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SUGGESTIVE INQUIRY
INTO
THE HERMETIC MYSTERY
AND
ALCHEMY.
Itermn ad hominem rationemque redeamns, ex quo divino dono
homo animal dictum est ratiojwle, minus enim miranda, etsi mii-anda
sunt, qvcB de liomine sunt dicta ; sed omnium mirahilivm vincit ad-
mirationetn, quod homo Divinam potuit invevii-e Naturam, eamque
efficere. — Mercurii Trismegisti, Asclepius, cap. xiii.
A
SUGGESTIVE INQUIRY
INTO
THE HERMETIC MYSTERY
WITH
A DISSERl ATION
ON THE
Movt Celeljiatftr of tl)e 9llci)emiral ^ftilosopftersi
BEING
AN ATTEMPT TOWAEDS THE EECOVEEY
OP THE
/
ANCIENT EXPERIMENT OF NATURE.
Iterum ad honiiuem rationemque redeamus, ex quo divino dono homo animal
dictum est rationale, minus enira miranda, etsi miranda sunt, quso de homine sunt
dicta ; sed omnium mirabilium viucit admirationem, quod homo Dirinam potuit
invenire Naturam, earaque eilicere. — Mercurii Trismegisti, Asck'pius, cap. xiii.
LONDON
TEELAWNEY SAUNDEES
CHARING CROSS.
MDCCCTj.
LONDON;
STEVENS AND CO., PRINTERS, BRLL VAKl),
TEMPLE BAR.
THE PREFACE.
~C1R0M remote Antiquity, and through suc-
-^ cessive intervals in the higher spheres of
mind, the tradition of an Art has circulated ;
but so dark and enigmatical as to evade vulgar
apprehension entirely and baffle the most acute.
There is doubtless some temerity in making
choice of an obsolete subject, and circumstances
have conspired to render Alchemy above every
other liable to mistrust ; the transmutation of
metallic species has seemed impossible, and the
pretensions of this science in general are at va-
riance with inductive probability and observed
fact.
But many things have in like manner been
considered impossible which increasing know-
ledge has proved true, and others which still to
common sense appear fictitious were believed
in former times, when faith was more enlightened
and the sphere of vision open to surpassing
effects. Daily observation even now warns us
against setting limits to nature ; as experiments
multipl}^ probabilities enlarge in practical life.
VI THE PREFACE.
and, like a swelling flood, obliterate the old land-
marks, as they sweep along rapidly to fulfil their
destined course.
Thus truth progresses openly in spite of scep-
ticism, when her advocates bear witness to-
gether, and over the mists of error and false
interests establish her domain. Few, however,
have a spontaneous disposition to study, and
many have not acquired the aptitude ; so that
we frequently observe, where labour of thought
is a condition, the greatest benefits are slighted
and prejudicially deferred. The notion of a
mystery is above all things obnoxious to modern
taste ; as who will now believe either that there
has been any truth of importance known which
is not publicly declared, or worth knowing that
he cannot understand ? Everypretension of the
kind has been repudiated, therefore, with all such
investigations as are not immediately profitable
and appreciable by common sense.
In former times ; even when philosophy flou-
rished in Greece, Egypt, and in Europe, during
the earlier ages of Christianity, when no pains
were spared to improve the understanding and
educate the rational faculties to their utmost
limit of energy and refinement ; even then the
study of the Hermetic Science was confined to
a very few : and though their names still live
most famous in the history of philosophy, and
THE PREFACE. VU
are held in traditionary honour to this day, yet
the source of their Wisdom, the Art which made
them great, and good, and memorable, has
passed into oblivion — the very style has become
obsolete ; and, but for those lasting theories and
solemn attestations which they have bequeathed,
the Experiment of the Causal Nature and its de-
veloping medium would have been left without
a clue of retracement, or relic even for surmise.
Modern Science has hitherto thrown no light
on the Wisdom of Antiquity ; our discoveries
have neither added to nor taken any part from
it — being of another order, and, as it were, of
another world. No consideration of period or
place is sufficient to account for the difference ;
the very ground of human knowledge would
seem to have changed.
The philosophy of modern times, more espe-
cially that of the present day, consists in ex-
periment and such scientific researches as may
tend to ameliorate our social condition, or be
otherwise useful in contributing to the ease and
indulgences of life ; whereas, in the original ac-
ceptation, philosophy had quite another sense :
it signified the Love of Wisdom. And the doc-
trine of Wisdom, as delivered to us by the
Hebrew and best Ethnic writers, is in no re-
spect extrinsical or dependant on externals, but
professes to be based on Causal Experience,
Vlll THE PREFACE.
obtained by a systematic disciplining and effec-
tual conversion of the Rational Faculty, up to
an Intuition of Universal Truth in its own con-
scious Identity or Self-knowledge.
Many great and lasting theories have been
based on this ground, supported by much vene-
rable testimony and rational evidence ; and, al-
though variously taught by individuals of the
different schools, it preserves the same native
simplicity unchanged, from the remote antiquity
of Zoroaster and the Jewish Cabal, through
the enigmas and fables of the Egyptians, the
Orphic Mysteries and Symbols of Pythagoras,
up to the more scientific and full development
of Plato and liis brilliant disciples of the Alex-
andrian School.
These continued to regard the human mind as
an imperfect embryo, separated off" from its an-
tecedent Law ; and, by this common outbirth into
individual life, so made subject to the delusions
of sense and phantasy, as to be incapable of true
progress or wisdom until it had been rectified
and re-related, as they assure us, even in this
world it may be, by certain artificial aids and
media, and made conformable to the Divine vision
in truth, whence it sprang. And this was, in
fact, though Peripatetics have wandered, the true
initiatory object and comprehending whole of
ancient philosophy ; namely, to turn the eye of
THE PREFACE. IX
mind away from sensibles and fix its purified re-
gard on the Supreme Intelligible Law within.
We are well aware that this kind of philo-
sophy is obsolete ; that the capacity of man is
considered unequal to the discovery of essential
Causes ; and that all pretensions to interior illu-
mination have appeared fanciful, and are lightly
esteemed in the comparison with modern ex-
perimental science. It may be a question how-
ever whether they, who have determined thus,
were competent judges ; whether they have at
all entered upon the ground of the ancient doc-
trine to prove it, or studied so far as even to sur-
mise the Method by which the ancients were
assisted to propound the mystery of the Causal
Principle in life.
It has been repeatedly shown, and may be
very evident to those who have considered the
subject, that our faculties for knowledge, in
common with the whole human characteristic,
are by nature imperfect ; and that sensible evi-
dence fluctuates so with its objects, that we are
unable to rise above a relative certainty, either
in respect of those things which are around us
or of the nature of our own Being. The more we
reflect, indeed, the less conviction do we meet ;
since every thing, whether abstract or actual, in
respect of human reason, is mere phenomenon,
which, being thus naturally placed alone with-
out a proper intimate assurance in this life, li-
THE PREFACE.
mits, rather than confirms, the evidence of the
senses and other faculties. For the Law of
lieason is absolute, and demands a satisfaction
superior to that which sensibles or any thing
extraneous can offer ; hence the diversities of
opinion, and the sceptical result, which modern
metaphysics have ariived at, in the various sys-
tems of Locke, Hume, Condillac, Kant, and
others, by different roads ; and, as it were, with-
out the suspicion, following Reason into her own
ultimate defect ; as able to prove all things sub-
jectively inferior, yet wanting the proper objec-
tive— self-demonstrative ligiit.
Lord Bacon — perspicuously regarding the ex-
ternal and internal worlds as divulsed in this way,
without apparent means of intrinsical reunion,
and concluding also from the fruitlessness of the
Aristotelian philosophy (then long since fallen
off from its original intention, and degenerated
into a mere metaphysical playground), that the
inquisition of mind in its fallen state was and
must for ever remain barren and inconclusive —
condemned the method ; and, forsaking it en-
tirely himself, proposed a strictly scientific ex-
periment of external nature, vigorously hoping
by such means, and by aid of proceeding induc-
tion, to penetrate from without the circumfe-
rential compound of Nature into her Formal
Centres.
But how very distant his followers, even at
THE PREFACE. XI
this late day, are from such a goal, or from any
rational idea of carrying experiment at all into
the central ground, is shown in the strong out-
working spirit of the age, which, notwithstand-
ing all its abundance of facts, — dead, living, and
traditional — has not advanced one step in Causal
Science. Effects indeed are found to indicate
their Causes, and so we infer many things, and
progress externally ; but no one particular of
nature is the more intrinsically understood ; or,
as respects ourselves, are we become better or
wiser from all that has been bequeathed, or ever
shall be, by such continual experimenting and
superficial facts accumulated on from henceforth
to the world's end.
For, as the author of the Novum Organum,
in the Preface, himself observes, the edifice of
this universe is, in its structure, as it were, a la-
byrinth to the human intellect that contemplates
it ; where there are many ambiguous ways, de-
ceptive similitudes of things and signs, oblique
and complicated windings, and knots of nature's
everywhere presenting themselves to view ; fur-
thermore, the senses, as he admits, are fallacious,
the mind unstable and full of idols ; and all
things are presented under a glass, and, as it
were, enchanted.
If, therefore, the journey is to be made per-
petually through a labyrinth so obscure and
Xll THE PREFACE.
difficult, as that which the Chancellor describes,
under the uncertain light of sense, sometimes
shining and sometimes hiding itself through and
in the woods of experience and particulars ; a
dreary prospect truly is presented, and one
promising about as little success to the traveller
as he has actually arrived at now, after the lapse
of many centuries of persevering toil and expec-
tation— still, in the same maze of external na-
ture, dissatisfied and unhappy, amidst the pass-
ing images of his own outward creation ; without
a ray of the First Light to guide him into the
inner courts of a more certain and sublime ex-
perience.
Or how should any stable science arise out
of the aggregate of particulars ? The common
analysis of bodies does not discover their unity,
nor is the most scientific synthesis of heteroge-
neous atoms found to yield any vital effect. The
free Spirit of Nature flies before all our destroy-
ing tests and crucibles ; and, taking refuge in her
own Identity, subtly eludes the hopes and ac-
tive efforts of the inductive mind. May not the
same objection, therefore, equally apply to this
method of philosophizing as its great advocate
opposed to the syllogistic sclieme of Aristotle ;
namely, that it works confusedly, and suffers
Nature to escape out of our hands ?
Such being the defective result of natural ex-
THE PREFACE. Xlll
periment, conducted as it ordinarily is through
the Macrocosm, without the discovery of Hfe ;
and since the evidence of modern metaphysics,
attempting to enter theoretically, falls short of
human faith, and is bounded in this ; may it not
be worth while to inquire, once more, parti-
cularly concerning the doctrine of the ancient
Sages, how their pretensions to superior Wisdom
were founded, and so practically set forth, from
the Ontological ground? For it has been ac-
knowledged by opponents, and must be very
evident to all, that the discovery of Causes
would be of all parts of Science the most
worthy to be sought out, if it were possible to
be found ; and, as regards the possibility, are
they not truly said to be ill discoverers that
conclude there is no land when they can discern
nothino; but sea ?
The numerous express declarations that are
to be met with in those early writers, the
Greeks especially, that they were not alone
able, but very generally had passed beyond the
world of appearances in which we range into
the full Intuition of Universal Truth, are, to say
the least, remarkable. The liberal allowance of
imagination and mere verbiage, which ignorance
once ascribed to these men, has no doubt de-
terred many, and may continue to delay ra-
tional inquiry ; but can never explain away their
XIV THE PREFACE.
clear language of conviction, or nullify those
solemn assertions of experieace in the Divine
Wisdom, and surpassing knowledge, which oc-
cur, in one form or other, at almost every page
of their transmitted works. Neither are the
definitions we gather of this Wisdom so incom-
plete, or ambiguous, that they can be possibly
referred to any science or particular relation of
science, physical or metaphysical, preserved to
these times. But the Wisdom they celebrate is,
as we before observed, eminently inverse ; con-
sisting not in the observation of particulars,
neither in poljunathy, nor in acuteness of the
common intellect, nor in the natural order of
understanding at all ; but in a conscious deve-
lopment of the Causal Principle of the Uni-
versal Nature in Man,
For man, say they, is demonstrated to be an
epitome of the whole mundane creation, and
was p-enerated to become wise above all terres-
trial animals ; being endowed, besides those
powers which he commonly exerts, and by
means of which he is able to contemplate the
thino^s which exist around him, with the germ
of a higher faculty, which, when rightly de-
veloped and set apart, reveals the hidden Forms
of manifested Being, and secrets of the Causal
Fountain, identically within himself. Nor this
alone ; not only is man reputed able to (lis-
THE PREFACE. XV
cover the Divine Nature, but, in the forcible
language of the Asclepian Dialogue, to effect
It ; and in this sense, namely, with respect to
the Cathohc Reason which is latent in his life,
man was once said to be the Image of God.
It appears, moreover, those ancients were not
enlightened on the a priori ground alone, but
the same power of Wisdom was confirmed in
external operation, in many surpassing effects of
spiritual chemistry, and in the asserted miracle
of the Philosopher's Stone. And here, though
it has seemed a stumbling-block to unbelievers,
and we anticipate for our advocacy the utmost
scorn ; yet, with this theosophic doctrine of
Wisdom, the tradition of Alchemy runs hand
in hand. It is this which, occultly permeating
throughout, gives substance to the transcen-
dental theme, and meaning to the subtle disqui-
sitions of the middle ages — this it was which
filled the acute intellect of that period with ar-
dour and admiration. It was this which inspired
Albertus Magnus, Aquinas, Roger Bacon, the
fiery Lully, and his preceptor Arnold di Villa-
Nova, Ficinus, Picus di Mirandola, Spinoza,
Reuchlin, the Abbot Trithemius, Cornelius
Agrippa, and all the subsequent Paracelsian
School. It is this which, under another title,
Plato celebrates as the most efficacious of all
arts, calling it Theurgy and the worship of the
XVlll THE PREFACE.
Others, in hope that our suggestive advocacy
may either receive confutation, if erroneous ; or
become estabhshecl in the result. That the
subject is worthy of investigation from the
highest order of minds, we feel no hesitation in
affirming ; to them it has always proved at-
tractive ; for reason, perceiving effects, desires
to know causes, and is rarely incredulous in the
pursuit.
It is especially towards the analysis of this
Causal Experiment, therefore, that the present
Inquiry is directed, as being in due order to
begin with, the foundation of that luminous
fabric of Wisdom which we shall endeavour
practically, and for the discovery's sake, to
depict. For since Ontology is despaired of
by modern metaphysics, and reason is unable
in this life to substantiate its own inference —
although clearh^ perceiving the Antecedent ne-
cessity, it cannot pass into an absolute con-
sciousness of the same ; — if, therefore, the sub-
lime capability, above referred to, yet subsists in
man and is really educible, it must be under
the guidance of another Method and by the
revelation of another Law. What was the Ex-
periment which led our fathers into experience
and self-knowledge in the Divine Antecedent of
all life ? This we desire to learn ; and, for the
sake of the liberal and sincere lovers of truth,
THE PREFACE. XIX
now offer the guidance by which we have our-
selves been led along, pleasurably and with
satisfaction, to explore the mystic laboratory of
creative Light ; opening a way also by which
they may be enabled fully to co-operate and
follow Art into the living sanctuary of Nature.
If some particulars should seem obscure in
the early introduction, as it is indeed difficult to
unfold things so far out of the way of ordinary
thought, we hope not to be judged rashly, but
after a fair consideration of the whole. In
tracing the Hermetic tradition through many
venerable sources, it has been our endeavour, as
plainly and practically as the nature of the
matter would permit, to explain the occult
ground, and, by the help of theory supporting
evidence, to persuade the studious that the Art
of Alchemy, as it was anciently practtised in the
East, in the Egyptian temples, amongst the He-
brews and Early Greek Nations, and by the
Mystics of the Middle Ages, was a true Art;
and that the Stone of Philosophers is not a
chimera, as it has been represented in the world
to be ; but the wonderful offspring of a Vital
Experiment into Nature, the true foundation of
Ancient Wisdom and her supernatural fruit.
What, if our subject be the world's ridicule ;
and its professors rank with the ignorant as in-
sane or impostors ? In choosing it popularity
XX THE PREFACE.
was not the motive ; but we have written for the
Truth's sake and for the Hberal inquirer, from
whom alone we may anticipate either credit or
favour; and if we succeed only in drawing a very
few discerning intellects aside from the broad
stream of popular dereliction, by the light of
Ancient Wisdom into its faith, the undertaking
will not prove ungrateful, or have been con-
cluded in vain.
" I biiW not sfocare to maite gou g{fa£ crcticnce,
23ut a pf)2losopi)er maff f)crc finUc an £bil3£nce
Of i\)z tretotf) ; anlJ for men tl)at be lag
31 skill not grcatlji to^at tjbtg sag."
CONTENTS.
PART I.
AN EXOTERIC VIEW OF THE PROGRESS
AND THEORY OF ALCHEMY.
CHAPTER I. — A Preliminary Account of the
Hermetic Philosophy, with the more salient
POINTS OF its Public History — gathered from
the best extant Authorities, with notices of the
works of various writers, ancient and modern, in
succession, on the subject of Alchemy — their
evidence in support of the art of gold-making
and transmutation. — Page 3.
CHAPTER II. — Of the Theory of Transmutation
IN GENERAL, AND OF THE FiRST MaTTER showiug
the true basis on which the rational possibility
of Transmutation rests ; with Definitions from
Albertus Magnus, Aquinas, Friar Bacon, Ray-
mond Lully, Arnold Di-Villa-Nova, Synesius and
others, descriptive of the Hermetic Material —
with some suggestions additional concerning the
Ethereal Nature and analogous phenomena of
Light. — Page 68.
CHAPTER III. — The Golden Treatise of Hermes
Trismegistus concerning the Physical Secret
of the Philosopher's Stone, in Seven Sec-
tions— esteemed one of the best and oldest
pieces of Alchemical Philosophy extant ; com-
XXll CONTENTS.
prising, in epitome, the whole Art and secret
method of the confection — to which some eluci-
datory annotations are added from the Scholium
and elsewhere. — Page 99.
PART II.
A MORE ESOTERIC CONSIDERATION OF THE
HERMETIC ART AND ITS MYSTERIES.
CHAPTER I. — Of the True Subject of the Her-
metic Art and its Concealed Root — opening,
by way of evidence, the Alchemical Laboratory
and only vessel which the Adepts employed to
sublime the universal Spirit of Nature and con-
centrate her Light — how, when, and where the
Spirit may be arrested, introverted in the circula-
tion, and brought forth from immanifest being
into power and act, leading on from thence to-
wards an outline of the Hermetic Art. — Page 135.
CHAPTER II. — Of the Mysteries — beginning from
the early initiations, to show the imperfection of
the natural life and understanding — the artificial
means and media employed by the ancients to
rectify these — connecting together Alchemy and
Mesmerism, also, with those preliminary Rites. —
Page 171.
CHAPTER III. — The Mysteries continued —
which indicate the gi'eater ordeals and disciplines
which the vital Spirit is made to pass through in
the progress of a physical regeneration by art,
from out the sensual dominion of the Selfhood,
CONTENTS. XXni
through a temporary death and annihilation to a
new life and consciousness. — Page 191.
CHAPTER IV.— The Mysteries concluded— with
a view of the ultimate object of these initiations
to prove the perfection, purity, and integral ef-
ficiency to which the human spirit may arrive by
divine assimilation coming in vital contact with
its Source. — Page 220.
PART III
CONCERNING THE LAWS AND VITAL CON-
DITIONS OF THE HERMETIC EXPERIMENT.
CHAPTER I. — Of the Experimental Method and
Fermentation of the Philosophic Subject ac-
cording to the Paracelsian Alchemists and
some others — whereby the Principles of the
Art are yet more intimately unfolded, and the
methodical order in which the experiment was
conducted to discover that hidden Light which is
the specific Form of Gold — how to educate this
and multiply it by the ethereal conception until it is
made concrete and substantially brought forth. —
Page 255.
CHAPTER II. — A further Analysis of the Initial
Principle and its Eduction into Light — com-
prising the Metaphysics of the Matter ; gathered
more particularly from the Greek Ontologists and
Cabalists, to show the progress of the conscious-
ness through the various stages of purification
and dissolution until the rectified ferment, over-
whelming, becomes established in life. — Page 305.
XXIV CONTENTS.
CHAPTER III. — Of the Manifestation of the
Philosophic Matter — exhibiting how, when,
and where the invisible Spirit of Nature is by Art
made visible and brought through a vital distil-
lation into substantive effect — with power and
will to transfuse its luminous aurific virtue and
draw the universal life of Nature to its homo-
geneal accord. — Page 349.
CHAPTER IV.— Of the Mental Requisites and
Impediments incidental to Individuals, either
AS Masters or Students, in the Hermetic Art
— to which are added various ])ractical instruc-
tions concerning the means and instruments that
have to be arranged and called together in fur-
therance of this undertaking, the quahfications of
external circumstances and accordances of fitting
seasons and places for operation. — Page 393.
PART IV.
THE HERMETIC PRACTICE.
CHAPTER I. — Of the Vital Purification, com-
monly called the Gross AVork — which de-
velopes the actual mode of operation practised by
the Ancients, and mechanic means employed to
dissolve the vital compound and eradicate the
inbred evil of life — the mode of rational investiga-
tion likewise by which the Spirit is induced to
vield up her light and hidden virtue to increase
it.— Page 429.
CHAPTER II. — Of the Philosophic or Subtle
Work — which affords, by a theoretic conduct,
CONTENTS. XXV
suggestions amply leading to a practical under-
standing of the most abstruse secret of the Her-
metic philosophy, showing the Trinitarian method
of operation which Reason follows recreatively
for the verification of her light to discover, mag-
nify, and know the Causal Nature transitively in
being and in imaged manifestation. — Page 455.
CHAPTER HI.— The Six Keys of Eudoxus—
leading into the most secret Philosophy of the
Multiplication and Projection, Rewards and Po-
tencies, Nature, Properties, Analogies, and Ap-
pliances of the Philosopher's Stone. — Page 474.
CHAPTER IV. — The Conclusion — in summary of
the whole, comparing this Philosophy, its me-
thod, relations, and ultimate promise, with those
of more modern acceptation and repute. — Page
511.
Tlie superintendence of the Press havinor been defective in several
classical quotations, the Author subjoins the following more promi-
nent errata : —
Page 7, line 8,/o?' omni, read omnes.
13, /oi' igni, o-ead igne.
1\,for operatione, read de operatione.
12, 4, for miracula read miraculi.
14, 11, read Secreta Ser^retorum.
29, 40, /or hunc rmd tunc.
34, Zl,f<jret,read50.
42, 33, read Lc Grand Eclaircissement.
45, i>for seem, read serve.
69, 20, for trausmutatur, read transmutantur.
70, IS, for carissima j'ead carissime.
26, for reducatur read reducantur.
41, read species sive formas.
45, for materiam read materia.
71 , 1, for vera, read veras, and aliam for alium.
74, 12, for inter, read intus.
76, 9, for igne, read ignea.
88, IS, for omnis, read omnes.
104, 28, for dieri, read diei.
137, 34, /or Marien read Monen.
138, 16, for re, read res.
155, 11, omit with.
30, /or support,re«(? rajjport.
172, 24, /or La Planche, read La Pluche.
179, 30, for become, 7'ead became.
184, iO, for regimine, read regiminis.
189, 7, for conjunctam, read conjunctum.
190, 14, for my, read by.
17, for rejoins, read regains.
30, for landaveris, read laudaverit.
192, 4, /or philosophica, read philosophic!.
195, 15, insert naturam after habens.
198, 4, for ipse, 7-ead ips£e.
13, for limine, read lumina.
19, for movere, read moveri.
21, for dea, read dei.
23, /or Cecropiam, read Cecropium.
199, note for Oracula, read Oraculis.
201, line 6, for vaala., read m&lse.
221, 24, for northern, -read southern.
223, 17, for Olympicus, read Olympicos.
229, 29, for diaphonous, read diaphanous.
231, 1, /or fo, ?-eatZ of.
232, 7, for epaptenomen, irad epopteuomen.
24S, 38, 7-ead Cunctarumque patrem rerum spectare licebit.
278, 37, for inanimje, read inamoenae.
Page 297, line 16, insert alne a/Ztr ejiisque, and read salum for solum.
308, l,/(ir sequentur, read sc<\ueiiter.
315, note for Mundura, read Mundi.
31(3, VmelZjfdr divini, read divinx.
317, 18, for varie, read vari«.
21, for utque, 7-ead atque.
23, for omnis, read omnes.
352, 17, read raotum in te experieris internum.
361, 21, for seated, read sealed.
363, 27, for fiunt, read fiant.
367, 36, read one only night.
434, i,for dedeat, read tjedeat.
435, 8, for motionem, read amotioncni.
465, 18, for eum, 7-ead cum.
471, 37, I'ead eritque in te cum iumine ignis, cum igne ventus, &c.
493, 38, for which, read what.
509, IS, for ilium, read illara.
A SUGGESTIVE INQUIEY
INTO THE HERMETIC MYSTERY.
PART I.
AN EXOTERIC VIEW OF THE PROGRESS AND
THEORY OF ALCHEMY.
A SUfiUESTIVE INQUIRY
INTO THE
HERMETIC MYSTERY.
CHAPTER I.
A P reliminary Account of the Hermetic Philosophy,
with the more salient Points of its Public History.
THE Hermetic tradition opens early with the morn-
ing dawn of philosophy in the eastern world. All
pertaining thereto is romantic and mystical. Its monu-
ments, emblems, and numerous written records, alike
dark and enigmatical, form one of the most remark-
able episodes in the history of the human mind. A
hard task were it indeed and almost infinite to discuss
every particular that has been presented by individuals
concerning the art of Alchemy ; and as difficult to fix
with certainty the origin of a science which has been suc-
cessively attributed to Adam, Noah and his son Cham,
to Solomon, Zoroaster, and the Egyptian Hermes.
Nor, fortunately, does this obscurity concern us much
in an inquiry which rather relates to the means and
principles of occult science than to the period and
place of their reputed discovery. Nothing, perhaps, is
less worthy or more calculated to distract the mind from
points of real importance than this very question of
temporal origin, which, when we have taken all pains
to satisfy and remember, leaves us no wiser in reality
than we were before. What signifies it, for instance,
that we attribute letters to Cadmus, or trace oracles
to Zoroaster, or the Cabbal to Moses, the Eleusinian
mysteries to Orpheus, or free-masonry to Noah ; whilst
/B 2
4 Exoteric View.
we are profoundly ignorant of the nature and true be-
ginning of any one of these things, and observe not
how truth, being everywhere eternal, does there always
originate where it is understood?
We do not delay, therefore, to ascertain, even were
it possible, whether the Hermetic science was indeed
preserved to mankind on the Syriadic pillars after the
flood, or whether Egypt or Palestine may lay equal
claims to the same ; or, whether in truth that Sma-
ragdine table, whose singular inscription has been
transmitted to this day, is attributable to Hermes or to
any other name. It may suffice the present need to
accept the general assertion of its advocates, and con-
sider Alchemy as an antique artifice coeval, for aught
we know to the contrary, with the universe itself
For although attempts have been made, as by Herman
Conringius,^ to slight it as recent invention, and it
is also true that, by a singularly envious fate, nearly
all Egyptian record of the art has perished ; yet we
find the original evidence contained in the works of
A. Kircher,'^ the learned Dane Olaus Borrichius,^ and
Robert Vallensis in the first volume of the Theatrum
Chemicum,^ more than sufficient to balance every ob-
jection of this kind, besides ample collateral probabi-
lity bequeathed in the best Greek authors, historical
and philosophic.
In order to show that the propositions we may here-
after have occasion to offer are not gratuitous, as also
with better effect to introduce a stranger subject, it
will be requisite to run through a brief account of the
Alchemical philosophers, with the literature and public
evidence of their science ; the more so, as no one of
the many histories of philosophy compiled or trans-
lated into our language, advert to it in such a manner
^ De Hermetica ^gyptior. vetere et Paracelsicor. Nova Me-
dicina.
^ G^^dipus .^gyptiacus. Idem, do Lapide Philos. Dissert.
2 De Ortu et Progressu Chemise. Idem, yEgyptior. et Chemicor.
Sapientia, ab H. Conringii Animad. vindic.
■* De Veritate et Antiquitate Artis Cliemiae.
Preliminary Account. 5
as, considering the powerful and wide-spread influence
this branch formerly exercised on the human mind, it
certainly appears to deserve.
This once famous Art, then, has been represented
both as giving titles and receiving them from its mo-
ther land, Cham ; for so, during a long period, accord-
ing to Plutarch, was Egypt denominated, or Chemia,
on account of the extreme blackness of her soil: — or,
as others say, because it was there that the art of
Vulcan was first practised by Cham, one of the sons
of the Patriarch, from whom they thus derive the
name and art together. But by the word Chemia, says
Plutarch, the seeing pupil of the human eye was also
designated, and other black matters, whence in part
perhaps Alchemy, so obscurely descended, has been
likewise stigmatized as a Black Art.^
Etymological research has doubtless proved useful
in leading on and corroborating truths once suggested,
but it is not a way of first discovery ; derivations may
be too easily conformed to any bias, and words do not
convey true ideas unless their proper leader be previ-
ously entertained. Without being able now, therefore,
to determine whether the art gave or received a title
from Cham, the Persian prince Alchimin, as others
have contended, or that dark Egyptian earth ; to take
a point of time, we may begin the Hermetic story from
Hermes, by the Greeks called Trismegistus, Egypt's
great and far-reputed adeptist king, who, according to
Suidas, lived before the time of the Pharoes, about
four hundred years previous to Moses, or, as others
compute, about 1900 before the Christian era.^
This prince, like Solomon, is highly celebrated by
antiquity for his wisdom and skill in the secret opera-
tions of nature, and for his reputed discovery of the
quintessential perfectibility of the three kingdoms in
their homogeneal unity ; whence he is called the Thrice
^ See Platarcli de Iside et Osiride, sub init., and Bryant's
Analysis of Ancient Mytliology, vol. ii.
^ See Suidas de Yerbo Cbemeia, " Credo Mercurium Trisme-
gistum, sapientem ^gyptium, floruisse ante Pharaonem," &c.
6 Exoteric View.
Great Hermes, having the spiritual inteUigence of all
things in their universal law.^
It is to be lamented that no one of the many books
attributed to him, and which are named in detail by
Clemens Alexandrinus, escaped the destroying hand of
Dioclesian;^ more particularly if we judge them, as
Jamblicus assures us we may, by those Asclepian Dia-
logues and the Divine Pcemander, which yet pass cur-
rent under the name of Hermes.^ Both are preserved
in the Latin of Ficinus, and have been well translated
into our language by Dr. Everard. The latter, though
a small work, surpasses most that are extant for subli-
mity of doctrine and expression : its verses flow forth
eloquent, as it were, from the fountain of nature,
instinct with intelligence ; such as might be more
efficacious to move the rational sceptic off from his
negative ground into the happier regions of intelligible
reality, than many theological discourses which, of a
lower grade of comprehension, are unable to make
this highly affirmative yet intellectual stand. But the
subjects treated of in the books of the Pcemander and
Asclepias are theosophic and ultimate, and denote
rather our divine capabilities and promise of regenera-
tion than the physical ground of either ; this, with the
practical method of alchemy being further given in the
Tractatus Aureus, or Golden Treatise, an admirable
relic, consisting of seven chapters, attributed to the
same author.'* The Smaragdine Table, which, in its
few enigmatical but remarkable lines, is said to com-
' See TertuUianus de Anima, cap. ii. adversua Valentinianus,
cap XV. Hermetem vocat Physicorum Magistrum.
- Chimia est auri et argenti confectio, cujus libros Diocle-
sianus perquisites exussit eo quod Egyptii res uovas contra Dio-
clesianum moliti fuerant, duriter atque hostiliter eos tractavit. Quo
tempore etiam libros de chimia, auri et argenti a veteribus cou-
scriptos, conquisivit et exussit, ne deiuceps Egyptiis divitiae ex-
fluentia contisi in posterum E.omanis rebellarent. (Suidas in Yerbo
Chemeia.)
^ See Jamblicus de Mysteriis, sect. viii. cap. iv. &c.
^ Hermetis Trismegisti Tractatus Aureus de Lapidis physici
secreto.
Preliminary Account. 7
prehend the working principle and total subject of the
art, we here subjoin : from the original Arabic and
Greek copies, it has been rendered into Latin by
Kircher as follows : —
TABULA SMAEAGDINA HERMETIS.
Verum sine mendacio certum et verissimum ; quod est superius est
sicut quod est inferius ; et quod est mferius est sicut quod est supe- / ^
rius, ad perpetranda miracula rei unius : et sicut omn\ res fuerunt /-^-^
ah uno, mediatione unius, sic otnnes res notce fuerunt ab hdc und re /
adaptatione. Pater ejus Sol est, mater vera Luna ; portavit id
ventiis in ventre suo, nutrix ejus terra est ; pater omnis telesmi, sive
consummatio totius mundi est hie. Vis ejus integra est si versa I
fuerit in terram. Sepai'abis terrain ab igr^,^ subtile a spisso, suavi- /"^
ter cum multo ingenio ; asceridit a terra in coelum, iterumque descen-
dit i7i terram, recipifque vim superiorum et inferiorum. Sic habebis
gloriam totius mundi, ideb fugit a te omnis obscuritas ; hie est totius
fortitudinis fortis, qui vincet omnem rem subtilem omnemque solidam
penetrabit. Sicut mundus creatus est. Hinc erunt adaptationes
mirabiles quarum modus est hie. Itaque vocatus sum Hermes Tris-
megistus, habens ires partes fhilosophice totius mundi. Completum
est quod dixi operatione Solis.
We shall have occasion to revert to this tablet and
its apphcability hereafter, when we come to a particular
examination of the philosophic subject in its active
and passive relations, and the intimate mystery of
those Hermetic luminaries in conjunction. The in-
scription may be thus rendered.
THE SMAEAGDINE TABLE OF HEEMES.
True, without error, certain and most true; that which is above
is as that which is below, and that which is below is as that which is
above, for performing the miracles of the One Thing ; and as all
things were from one, by the mediation of one, so all things arose
from this one thing by adaptation ; the father of it is the Sun, the
mother of it is the Moon ; the wind carried it in its belly ; the
nurse thereof is the earth. This is the father of all perfection, or
consummation of the whole world. The power of it is integral, if
it be turned into earth. Thou shall separate the earth from the Jire,
the subtle from the gross, gently with much sagacity ; it ascends
from earth to heaven, and again decends to earth : and receives the
strength of the superiors and of the inferiors— so thou hast the
glory of the whole world ; therefore let all obscurity fee before
thee. This is the strong fortitude of all fortitudes, overcoming
A
^/^
8 Exoteric View.
every subtle and penetrating every solid thing. So the world wag
created. Hence were all wonderful adaptations of which this is
the manner. Therefore am I called Thrice Great Hermes, having
the Three Parts of the philosophy of the xohole world. That
which I have written is consummate^ concerning the operation of
the Sun.
This Emerald Table, unique and authentic as it may
be regarded, is all that remains to us from Egypt of
her Sacred Art. A few riddles and fables, all more or
less imperfect, that were preserved by the Greeks, and
some inscrutable hieroglyphics are still to be found
quoted in certain of the alchemical records : but the
originals are entirely swept away. And — duly con-
sidering all that is related by the chroniclers of that
ancient dynasty, her amazing reputation for power,
wealth, wisdom, and magic skill ; — and, even when all
these had faded, when Herodotus visited the city, after
the priestly government of the Pharoes had been over-
thrown by Cambyses, and that savage conqueror had
burned the temples and almost annihilated the sacer-
dotal order, — after the influx of strangers had been
permitted, and civil war had raged almost to the ful-
filment of the Asclepian prophecy, — the wonders then
recorded by the historian of her remaining splendour
and magnificence ; — what shall we now conclude,
when, after the lapse of so many more destroying ages,
we review the yet mightily surviving witnesses of so
much glory, surpassing and gigantic even in the last
stage of their decay? Shall we suppose the ancient
accounts fallacious because they are too wonderful to
be conceived ; or have we not now present before our
eyes the plain evidence of lost science and the vestiges
of an intelHgence superior to our own ? For what did
the nations flock to Memphis ? For what did Pytha-
goras, Thales, Democritus, and Plato become im-
mured there for several solitary years, but to be initi-
ated in the wisdom and learning of those Egyptians ?
For what else, but for the knowledge of that mighty
Art with which she arose, governed, and dazzled the
whole cotemporary world ; holding in strong abeyance
Preliminary Account. 9
the ignorant, profane vulgar, until the evil day of
desolation came with self-abuse, when, neglecting to
obey the law by which she governed, all fell, as was
foretold, and sinking gradually deeper in crime and
presumption, was at last annihilated, and every sacred
institution violated by barbarians, and despoiled ?
"Oh, Egypt! Egypt! Fables alone shall remain of
thy religion, and these such as will be incredible to
posterity, and words alone shall be left engraved in
stones narrating thy pious deeds. The Scythian also,
or Indian, or some other similar nation, shall inhabit
Egypt. For divinity shall return to heaven, all its
inhabitants shall die, and thus Egypt bereft both of
God and man shall be deserted. Why do you weep,
O Asclepias ? Egypt shall experience yet more ample
evils ; she was once holy, and the greatest lover of the
gods on earth, by the desert of her religion. And she,
who was alone the reductor of sanctity and the mis-
tress of piety, will be an example of the greatest
cruelty. And darkness shall be preferred to light,
and death shall be judged to be more useful than life.
No one shall look up to heaven. The religious man
shall be counted insane ; the irreligious shall be
thought wise ; the furious, brave ; and the worst of
men shall be considered good. For the soul, and all
things about it, by which it is either naturally im-
mortal, or conceives it shall attain to immortality, con-
formably to what I have explained to you, shall not
only be the subjects of laughter, but shall be con-
sidered as vanity. Believe me, likewise, that a capital
punishment shall be appointed for him who applies
himself to the Religion of Intellect. New statutes and
new laws shall be established, and nothing religious,
or which is worthy of heaven or celestial concerns,
shall be heard or believed in by the mind. Every
divine voice shall, by a necessary silence, be dumb :
the fruits of the earth shall be corrupted ; and the air
itself shall languish with a sorrowful stupor. These
events, and such an old age of the world as this, shall
10 Exoteric View.
take place — such irreligion, iiiordination, and unsea-
sonableness of all good."'
Such is the substance of a prediction which, as it
was supposed to have reference to the Christian era,
has been abused and reputed a forgery by the faithless
learned of modern times. It is, however, difficult to
conceive why it should have been considered so ob-
noxious, for the early history of Christianity certainly
does not fulfil it ; it was a falhng off from Divinity
that w^as predicted, and not such a revival as took
place upon the teaching of Jesus Christ and his apos-
tles. At that period philosophy too flourished, and
the Spirit of the Word w'as potent in faith to heal and
save. If the prediction had been a forgery of Apuleius,
or other cotemporary opponent of Christianity, the
early fathers must have known it, which they did not as
is plain from Lactantius, and St. Augustin mentioning,
without expressing any doubt about its authenticity ;
and though the latter (then adopting probably the
popular notion) esteemed it instinctu fallacis spiritus,^
he might subsequently perhaps have thought other-
wise, had he lived so long. Christianity was yet in
his time glowing, bright, and efficacious, from the
Divine Fountain ; faith was then grounded in reality
and living operation, and the mystery of human re-
generation, so zealously proclaimed, was also rationally
understood. The fulfilment, with respect to Egypt,
appears to have taken place in part long previously,
and in part to have been reserved to later times, w4ien
sacred mysteries, too openly exposed to the multitude,
became perverted and vilified by their abuse.
But this prophecy carries us out of all order of
time : it will be necessary, in tracing the progress of
our science, to pass again to Egypt. The period of
her true greatness is, as is well known, shrouded in
1 From the Asclepian Dialogue of llermcs, by Ficmus, as ren-
dered by T. Taylor.
2 Sec Taylor's notes to the Prophecy, in Plotinus' Select Works,
at the end, p. 557, &c.
Preliminary Account. 11
oblivion ; but, during the succession of the Ptolemies,
the influx of strangers, so long before successfally
prohibited, became excessive : her internal peace was
destroyed, but her Art and Wisdom spread abroad with
her renown : foreigners obtained initiation into the
Mysteries of Isis ; and India, Arabia, China, and
Persia vied with her and with each otlier in magian
skill and prowess.
Pliny informs us that it was Ostanes, the Persian
sage accompanying the army of Xerxes, who first
inoculated Greece with the portentous spirit of his
nation.^ Subsequently the Greek Philosophers, both
young and old, despising the minor religion of their
own country, became anxious to visit the eastern tem-
ples, and that of Memphis above all, in order to obtain
a verification of those hopes to which a previous spirit
of inquiry and this new excitement had abundantly
given rise.
Amongst the earliest mentioned of these, after Thales,
Pythagoras, and a few others, whose writings are lost,
is Democritus of Abdera, who has been frequently
styled the father of experimental philosophy, and who,
in his book of Sacred Physics, treats especially of
the Hermetic art, and that occult discovery on which
the systems of ancient philosophy appear to have been
very uniformly based. ^ Of this valuable piece there
are said to be several extant editions, and Synesius has
added to it the light of a commentary.^ Nicholas
Flammel also, of more recent notoriety, has given ex-
tracts from the same at the conclusion of a very
instructive work."* That its authenticity should have
been disputed by the ignorant is not wonderful ; but
the ancients are nowhere found to doubt about it.
Pliny bears witness to the experimental fame of De-
^ De Ostane Magno, vide Plinium, Histor. Nat. lib. xxx. cap. i.
2 Democriti Abderitae de Arte Sacra, sive de rebus naturali-
bus et mysticis libellus, ex veneraudae Gr^ecae vetustatis de Arte
Chimica reliquiis erutus.
^ Synesius in Democritum Abderitam de Arte Sacra.
"* Flammelli Summario Philosophico.
12 Exoteric View.
mocritus, and his skill in the occult sciences and prac-
tice of them, both in his native city of Abdera and
' / afterwards at Athens, when Socrates was teaching
<^ there. Plenum miracul$( et hoc pariter utrasque artes
/ effloruisse, medicinam dico, magiciemque eadem setate,
' illam Hippocrate banc Democrito illustrantibus, &cJ
Seneca also mentions his artificial confection of pre-
cious stones ;^ and it is said that he spent all his
leisure, after his return home, in these and such-like
physico-chemical researches.^
During the sojourn of Democritus at Memphis, he
is said to have become associated in his studies with
a Hebrew woman named Maria, remarkable at that
period for the advances she had made in philosophy,
and particularly in the department of the Hermetic art.
A treatise entitled Sapientissima Maria de Lapide
Philosophica PrcEscripta is extant ; also j\Jaria Prac-
tica, a singularly excellent and esteemed fragment,
which is preserved in the alchemical collections.^
But amongst the Greeks, next Democritus, Anax-
agoras is celebrated as an alchemist. The remains of
his writings are unfortunately scanty, and even those
to be found in manuscript only, with exception of
some fragments which have been accidentally trans-
lated. From these, however, we are led to infer
favourably of the general character of his expositions,
which Norton, our countryman, also, in the Proheme
to his quaint Ordinal of Alchemy, lauds, thus holding
' Hist. Nat. lib. xxx. cap i.
^ Epistola, xci.
^ Petronius Arbitt'r in Satyrico.
^ Democriti Abderitas physici philosophi praeclarum iiomeu ;
hie ab Ostane Medo, ab ejus fevi Persarum Eegibus sacroriini
praefecturse causa in Egypto misso, sacris litteris initiatur et
imbuitur, in Memphis fano inter sacerdotes et philosophos, quae-
dam Hebraea, omni disciplinam genere excultu, et Paminenes. De
auro et argento et lapidibus et purpura, sennone per ambages
composite scripsit, quo dicendi genere usa est etiam Maria. Ve-
rum lii quidem Democritus et Maria quod enigmatibus plurimis
et eruditus artem occultassent huidati sunt : Pammeues quod
abunde et aperte scripsisset vituperatus est. (Syncellus, Chrono-
graphia, p. 248).
Preliminary Account, 13
him up in excellent comparison with the envious
writers of his age.
^ All masters ttat write of this solemn werke,
Have made their bokes to manie men fuU derke,
In poysies, parables, and in metaphors alsoe,
Which to schollors eauseth peine and woe ;
For in their practise when they woidd assaye
They leefe their costs, as men see alle daye.
Hermes, Easis, Geber, and Aviceu,
Merlin, Hortolan, Democi'it and Morien,
Bacon and Eaymond with many moe
"Wrote under coverts and Aristotle alsoe.
For what hereof they wrote cleare with their pen,
Their clouded clauses dulled ; fro manie men
Fro laymen, fro clerks, and soe fro every man
They hid this art that noe man find it can.
By their bokes thei do shew reasons faire,
Whereby much people are brought to despaire :
Tet Anaxagoras wrote plainest of them all
In his boke of Conversions Naturall ;
Of the old Fatliers that ever I founde,
He most discloses of this science the grounde ;
Whereof Aristotle had great envy.
And him rebuked unrightfully,
In manie places, as I can well report,
Intending that men shoidd not to him resort,
For he was large of his cunnyng and love,
God have his soul in bliss above ;
And such as sowed envious seede
God forgive them for their mis-deede,^
Aristotle is much blamed by Adepts in general for
the manner in which he has not only veiled the know-
ledge which he secretly possessed, but also for having
wilfully, as they complain, led mankind astray from
the path of true experiment. We hesitate to judge
this question, since, however much the barrenness of
his philosophy may be deplored, it appears improbable
that any philosopher, much less one who took so
much pains as Aristotle, should designedly labour to
deceive mankind. His idea was peculiar and appears in
itself just. He blames his predecessors for the various
and contradictory positions they had made in philoso-
1 See Norton's Ordinal in Ashmole's Theatrum Chemicum
Britannicum, p. 8.
14 Exoteric View.
phising ; i. t. apparently contradictory, as respects
their language taken in a literal sense ; for he never
quarrels with their true meaning, and carefully avoids
disputing their general ground. His metaphysips in-
deed, which are the natural touchstone of his whole
system, diifer in no one fundamental respect or par-
ticular that is essential from those of Anaxagoras,
Plato, and Heraclitus. Certain epistles to Alexander
/> the Great on the philosopher's stone, attributed to
fy ^fit^ Aristotle, are preserved in the fifth volume of the
J<^^ ^ Theatrum Chemicinti ; and the 'See^^^&ttm-^iSe^frfhmna
J^o^ is generally acknowledged to be authentic. In the
Jj<^'^ book of Meteors also a clearer intelligence of intrinsic
causes is evinced than may be apparent to the com-
mon eye.^
But the whole philosophy of Plato is hyperphysical ;
the Pheedrus, Philebus, and seventh book of Laws,
the beautiful and subhme Parmenides, the Ph?edo,
Banquet, and Timeas have long been admired by the
studious without being understood ; a mystic sem-
blance pervades the whole, and recondite allusions
baffle the pursuit of sense and ordinary imagination.
Yet the philosopher speaks more familiarly in his Epis-
tles;— and if the correspondence with Dionysius of
Syracuse had concerned moral philosophy only and the
abstract relations of mind, why such dread as is there
expressed about setting the truth to paper ? But the
science which drew the tyrant to the philosopher was
more probably practical and profitably interesting than
abstracts would appear to be to such a mind. " Indeed,
^ See lib. iii. cap. 15. Ubi, inter alia, dicit, inetalla fieri ex
aqueo halitu et sicca exbalatione, qua; sunt argentum et sulphur.
Metalla autem omnia, ut ad rem redeam, fiunt ex una eademque
materia propinqua, utpote ex argento vivo et sulphure, quod
omnes asserunt. Difierent tamen forma id est puritate et coc-
tione seu digestioue. Spoliatio vero accidentium, vel formanim ip-
sarum essentialiam corruptio et aliarum introductio, possibilis est,
et in liabentibus symbolum facilis est transitus, ut circularis est
generatio elementorum, ita et metallorum ex se invicem. Which
universal principle of transmutation, thus indicated by Aristotle,
Hermes, Albertus Magnus, and the rest of the alchemists assert.
See also Aristotelis de Lapide ad Alexandrum Magnum ; Theat.
Cliem. vol. V.
Preliminary Account. 15
,0 son of Dionysius and Doris, this your inquiry eon-
^cerning the-courno of all beautiful things is endued with
a certain quality, or rather it is a parturition respect-
ing this ingenerated in the soul, from which he who
is not liberated will never in reality acquire truth. "^
Wisdom must be sought for her own sake, neither
for gold or silver or any intermediate benefit, lest
these all should be denied together without the dis-
covery of their source. There is a treatise on the
philosopher's stone in the fifth volume of the Thea-
truni Chemicum attributed to Plato, but the au-
thenticity is doubtful ; and since the principal Greek
records of the art were afterwards destroyed with the
remnant of Egyptian literature at Alexandria, we are
not desirous to enrol either of these names without
more extant evidence to prove their claim to the title
of Hermetic philosophers. They are mentioned here
in their series, because we hope to make it probable,
as the nature of the subject comes to be developed,
that the most famous schools of theosophy have in
all ages been based on a similar experimental ground
and profound science of truth in their leaders.
It was about the year 284 of the Christian era
when, as Suidas relates, the facility with which the
Egyptians were able to make gold and silver, and in
consequence to levy troops against Rome, excited the
envy and displeasure of the emperor to such an
extent, that he issued an edict, by which every che-
mical book was to be seized and burned together in
the public market-place ; vainly hoping, as the his-
torian adds, by this shameful act, to deprive them of
the means of annoying him any more. Thus
Suidas also endeavours to account for the silence of
antiquity with respect to the Egyptian Art.^ Yet,
notwithstanding all this sacrilege, the art appears to
have been continually revived in Egypt throughout
the whole period of her decline ; and, though the re-
1 Epistle II. Plato's Works, by Taylor, vol. v.
2 Suidas in Yerbo Chemeia. See the foregoing note, p. 6.
16 Exoteric View.
cords are scanty, we have the memorable story of
Cleopatra, the last monarch, dissolving her earring in
such a sharp vinegar as is only known to philosophers
on the ground of nature. Mystical tales too there
are related of her pursuits with Mark Antony, and
certain chemical treatises attributed to this princess
are yet extant.^
It will be unnecessary to delay our enquiry long at
Rome ; a city so pre-eminently famous for luxury and
arms was not likely to arrive at much perfection in
the subtler sciences of nature. Some failing attempts
of Caligula there are recounted by Pliny ;^ and Virgil,
Ovid, Horace, Vitruvius, and other men noted of the
Augustan Age, have been gravely accused of sorcery
and dabbling in the black art. But the perpetual
lamps best prove, and without offence, that the Ro-
mans understood something of chemistry and the oc-
cult laws of light ; several of these are described by
Pancirollus; and St.Augustin mentions one consecrated
to Venus in his day, that was inextinguishable. But
the most remarkable were those found in Tullia's
(Cicero's daughter's) tomb ; — and that one near Alestes
in the year 1 500, by a rustic who, digging deeper than
usual, discovered an earthen vessel or urn containing
another urn, in which last was a lamp placed between
two cylindrical vessels, one of gold the other of silver,
and each of which was full of a very pure liquor, by
whose virtue it is probable these lamps had continued
to shine for upwards of fifteen hundred years ; and,
but for the recklessness of barbarian curiosity, might
have continued their wonderful illumination to this
time. By the inscription found upon these vessels,
it appears they were the work of one Maximus Olybius,
who certainly evinced thereby some superior skill in
' Cleopatra Eegina Egypti Ars auri faciendi, &c., aud others
mentioned in the Catalogue of the Eoyal Library at Paris, 1742.
See Dufresuoy, Hist. Herm. vol. iii.
2 Invitaverat spes Caium Caligulam Principem avidissimum
auri ; quam ob rem jussit ex coqui magnum auri pigmenti pondus ;
et plane fecit aurum excellens, sed ita parvi ponderis ut detri-
mentum sentiret, &c. (Hist. Nat. lib. xxxiii. cap. iv.)
Preliminary Account. 17
arljusting the gaseous elements, or other ethereal
adaptations than is known at this day. The verses
graven on the larger urn are as follows : —
Platoui sacrum munus ne attingite fares :
Ignotum est vobis hac quod in urna latet.
Namque elementa gravi clausit digesta labore
Vase sub hoc modico Maxim us Olybius.
Adsit fecuudo custos sibi copia cornu,
Ne pretium tanti depereat latieis.
Which have been translated thus :
Plunderers, forbear this gift to touch
'Tis awful Pluto's own ;
A secret rare the world conceak
To such as you unknown.
Olybius, in this slender vase,
The elements has chained,
Digested with laborious art.
From secret science gained.
With guardian care, two copious urns
The costly juice confine.
Lest through the ruins of decay,
The lamp should cease to shine.
On the lesser urn were these :
Abite hinc pessimi fures !
Yos quid voltis vestris cum oculis emissititiis ?
Abite hinc vestro cum Mercurio petasato caduceatoque !
Maximus maximo donum Plutoni hoc sacrum facit.
Plunderers, with prying eyes, away !
What mean you by this curious stay ?
Hence with your cunning patron god.
With bonnet winged and magic rod !
Sacred alone to Pluto's name
This mighty art of endless fame ! ^
Hermolaus Barbarus, in his corollary to Dioscorus,
or some other, where he is treating of the element of
water in general, alludes to a particular kind that is
distinct from every other w^ater or liquor, saying, —
There is a ccelestial, or rather a divine water of the
chemists, with which both Democritus and Trisme-
gistus were acquainted, calling it di\dne water, Scy-
' See Theat. Chem. vol. i. p. 24; Ex Petri Apiani Antq.
desumpta ; also, Taylor's notes to his Pausanias, vol. iii.
C
w
18 Exoteric View.
thian latex, &c., which is a spirit of the nature of
the ether and quintessence of things, whence potable
gold, and the stone of philosophers, takes its begin-
ning. The ancient author of the Apocalypse of the
Secret Spirit of Nature, is also cited by H. Kuhnrath,
concerning this water ; and he devoutly affirms, that
the ether in this praeter-perfect aqueous body will
burn perpetually, without diminution or consumption
of itself, if the external air only be restrained.^ There
are also, besides those mentioned by P^^ncirollus, mo-
dern accounts of lamps found burning in monuments
and antique caves of Greece and Germany. But the
Bononian Enigma, long famous, without a solution,
should not be omitted here, since this relic has puz-
zled many learned antiquaries ; and the adepts claim
it as having exclusive reference to the occult material
of their art.
^LIA LtELIA CEISPIS.
Nee vir, nee mulier, nee androgyna,
Nee puella, nee juvenis, nee anus,
Nee casta, nee meretrix, nee pudica,
Sed omnia !
Sublata neque fame, neque ferro, neqne
Yeneno, sed omnibus !
Nee coelo, nee terris, nee aquis,
Sed ubique jacet !
LUCIUS AGATHO PRISCUS.
Nee maritus, nee amator, nee neeessarius,
Neque moerens, neque gaudens, neque flens,
Hane
Neque molem, neque pjramidem, neque sepulcrura,
Sed omnia.
Seit et neseit eui posuerit,
Hoc est sepulcrum certe, cadaver
Non habeus, sed cadaver idem,
Est et sepulcrum ! ^
The following excellent translations appeared
amongst some original contributions in the early
number of a literary periodical, a few years since : ^ —
^ Amphitbeatrum Sapientise Eternae, circa medium.
2 Tbeat. Chem. vol. v. p. 744. Kircheri (Edipus -^gyptiacus,
vol. i.
•'' The Critic, new series, No. 13, 1845, p. 352.
Preliminary Account.
19
JiLIA L.ELIA CEISPIS.
Nor male, nor female, nor hermaphrodite,
Nor virgin, woman, young or old.
Nor chaste, nor harlot, modest hight,
But all of them you're told —
Not killed by poison, famine, sword.
But each one had its share.
Not in heaven, earth, or water broad
It lies, but everywhere !
LUCIUS AGATHO PRISCUS.
No husband, lover, kinsman, friend.
Rejoicing, sorrowing at life's end,
Knows or knows not, for whom is placed
This — ^what ? This pyramid, so raised and graced,
This grave, this sepulchre ? 'Tis neither,
'Tis neither — but 'tis all and each together.
Without a body I aver.
This is in truth a sepulchre ;
But notwithstanding, I proclaim
Both corpse and sepulchre the same !
All these contradictory claims are said by the alche-
mists to relate to the properties of their universal
subject, as we shall hereafter endeavour to explain.
Michael Ma/er has detailed the whole allusion in his
Symbola} And N. Barnaud, in the Theatrum Che-
miciim, has a commentary on the same.'^
But to proceed ; transferring our regards from
Rome to Alexandria, we find many Christian Pla-
tonists and divines studying and discussing the Occult
Art in their writings. St. John, the Evangelist Apos-
tle, is cited as having practised it for the good of the
poor ; not only in healing the sick, but also confecting
gold, silver, and precious stones for their benefit. St.
Victor relates the particulars in a commentary, and
the Greek Catholics were accustomed to sing the fol-
lowing verses in a hymn appointed for the mass on St.
John's day.
Cum gemmarum partes fractas
Solidasset, has disti'actas
Tribuit pauperibus.
1 Symbola Auriae Mensse, p. 170, etc.
2 Commentariolum in Enigmaticum quoddam Epitaphium Bo-
noniae studiorum, ante multa seciila marmoreo lapidi insculptum.
Theat. Chem. vol. v.
/
^
20 Exoteric View.
Inexbaustxim fert tbesanruni
Qui de virgis fecit aurum
Gemmas de lapidibu3.^
Looking to the general testimony of the Fathers,
we observe that the early Church Catholic did not
neglect to avail herself of the powers which sanctity of
life and a well-grounded faith had gotten her. There
is no doubt either that the Apostles, when they in-
stituted and left behind them certain ordinances and
elementary types, as of water, oil, salt, and light, sig-
nified some real and notable efficacies. But our Re-
formers, mistaking these things for superstitions, and
since they had ceased to have any meaning, turned
them all out of doors ; retaining indeed little more of
the mystery of regeneration than a traditional faith.
The Papists, on the other hand, equally obli\dous,
evinced only to what a length human credulity and
ignorance may be carried, by placing inherent holiness
in those material signs, apart from the spirit and only
thing signified ; adding, moreover, to the original ordi-
nations many follies of their own, they fell into a very
slavish and stupid kind of idolatry. And since one of
the most fertile sources. of dissension that have arisen
in the Christian Church has been about these very
shadows and types of doctrine, it is to be hoped that, if
ever again they sliould come to be generally reintro-
duced, it will not be on the ground of ecclesiastical
persuasion, or any mere written authority, which, how-
ever high and well supported, has never yet been
found sufficient to produce unanimity ; but from a true
understanding and co-operation of that original virtue,
apart from which they do but mimic an efficacy, and
gather unwholesome fruits. There is a curious story of
an early Christian mission to China, related by Thomas
^ See Alexander Beauvais in Specido Nalurali)/. Hie Johannes
Evaiigelista numeratur etiam ab Avicenna, dictionc prima libri de
anima, inter possessores lapidis pbilosopbici, suasqncinstitutiones,
qui se Avicenna artem banc docuorint quod verigimile est, nam et
ecclesia prisca, auctore Adamo a Sancto Victore, die D. Jobauni
EvangeUsta> sacro mente decinit in bymno incipiente : " Gratu-
lemur ad iestivum," &c. Yide Lucerna Salis, p. 65, &c.
Preliminary Account. 21
Vaughaii, in his JMag'ia Adamica, showing how the
faith became originally established there and else-
where by its open efficacy, and the power of works,
in healing and purifying the lives of men.
But we are at Alexandria, and during that grand re-
vival of philosophy which took place and continued
there some centuries subsequent to the Christian
epoch. Plotinus, Philo-Judeeus, Proclus, Porphyry, / /
Jamblicus, Juli/n, and Apuleius, each professing a / <^ '.
genuine knowledge of the Theurgic art, and experi-
mental physics on the Hermetic ground. We shall
have frequent occasion to quote their evidence here-
after ; Heliodorus, Olympiodorus, Synesius, Athena-
goras, Zozimus, and Archelaus, have each left trea-
tises which are extant on the philosopher's stone. ^
The excellent Hypatia, also, should be mentioned
amongst these, so celebrated for her acquirements and
untimely end ; it was from this lady that Synesius
learned the occult truths of that philosophy, to
which he ever afterwards devoted his mind, and which
he never abandoned, pursuing it still more zealously
when, converted to Christianity, he became a bishop
of the Alexandrian Church. He was careful, how-
ever, to protect the mysteries of his religion from
vulgar abuse, and refused to expound in public
the philosophy of Plato ; he and his brethren having
unanimously bound themselves by oath to initiate
none but such as had been worthily prepared and duly
approved by the whole conclave.^ Of Synesius, we
have remaining the Alchemical commentary on De-
mocritus before mentioned, with an admirable piece
commonly found appended to other treatises, those of j
Artcfiuc and Flammel's Hieroglyphics, for example, Oy^lLoX^.
^ Heliodorus Phil. Clirist. de Arte Sacra Chimicor. ad Theod.
Imp. Idem, versus Gr^ec. circa Cliimiam. Olympiodori Phil.
Ales, de Divina et Sacra Arte Lapidis Philosophici Tractatus.
Athenagoras de Perfect. Amoris. Zozimus de Virtute et Com-
positione Aquarum. Idem, de Aqua Diviua. Idem, de Auri Con-
ficieiidi. Archelai, Carmen lambicum de Sacra Arte. See Du-
fresnoy, Histoire de I'Art Ilermetique, vol. iii. Cat. Gr. IVISS.
^ Synesius, Epistola 36, 142.
22 Exoteric View.
and translated into English, with Basil Valentine's
Chariot of Antimotiy, and the useful commentaries of
the adept Kirchringius.^
HeUodorus was a familiar friend of Synesius, and
brother adept ; besides the writings already named,
the mystical romance of J'heage/ies and Charicka
being attributed to him as an offence, rather than
disavow it, as was required, he relinquished his
bishopric of Tricca, in Thessaly, and went to pursue
his studies in poverty and retirement.
Zozimus was an Egyptian, and reputed a great
practitioner. The name of Athenagoras is familiar
in Church history; his tract, which has been trans-
lated into French, and entitled Da Parfait Amour,
shows him to have been practically conversant with
the art he allegorizes.
The taking of Alexandria by the Arabs, in the year
640, dispersed the choice remnant of mind yet cen-
tred there ; and it was not long afterwards that the
Calif Omar, mad in his Mahomedan zeal, condemned
her noble and unique library to heat the public baths
of the city, which it is said to have done for the space
of six miserable months. A wild religious fanaticism
now prevailed ; Christians and Mahomedans struggling
for temporal supremacy : — and here we may observe
something similar to a fulfilment of the Asclepian
prophecy, but the evil was more profusely spread even
than was predicted ; for religion had everywhere fallen
off from her vital foundation ; tradition and sectarian
delirium had taken place of intellectual enthusiasm,
and idle dreams were set up as oracles in the place
of Divdne inspiration. The priests, above all blame-
worthy, having forsaken the law of conscience, at-
tempted to wield without it the rod of magic power.
Confusion and licentiousness followed ; and from gra-
dual sufferance grew, and came to prevail, in the
worst imaginable forms. Necessity, at length, com-
1 Troics, Traitez de la Philosophie, &e., Paris, 1612. The
Triumphal Chariot of Antimony, from Kirchringius's ed., and The
True Book of Synesius, on the Philosopher's Stone.
Preliminary Account. 23
pelled an abandonment of the Mysteries ; Theurgic
rites, no longer holy, were proscribed ; and a punish-
ment, no less than death, was menaced against him who
dared to pursue the " Religion of Intellect." In the
interim, those few who had withstood the torrent of
ambitious temptation, indignant at the multiform
folly, and observing by aid of their remaining wisdom,
that the ingression of evil was not yet fulfilled, has-
tened rather than delayed the crisis ; and by burying
themselves with their saving science in profound ob-
scurity, have left the world to oblivion, and the deceit
of outer darkness, with rare indiv^idual exceptions, to
this day.
It is a peculiarity of the Hermetic science that men
of every religion, time and country and occupation,
have been found professing it ; and Arabia, though
she was guilty of so great a sacrilege at Alexandria,
has herself produced many wise kings and renowned
philosophers. It is not known exactly when Prince
Geber lived ; but since his name has become noto-
rious, and is cited by the oldest authors, whereas he
himself quotes none, he merits, at all events, an early
consideration. Besides, he is generally esteemed by
adepts as the greatest, after Hermes, of all who have
philosophized through this art.
Of the five hundred treatises, said to have been
composed by him, three only remain to posterity :
The Iiwestigatioii of Perfection, The Sum of the
perfect Jilagisteri/, and his Testament ;^ and the
light estimation in which these are held by more
modern chemists, forms a striking contrast to the un-
feigned reverence and admiration with which they
' Gebri Arahum Summa Perfectionis Magisterii in sua Natura.
Idem, de Investigatioue Perfectionis Metalloruni. Idem, Testa -
mentum. These wei'e printed together at Dantzic from the
Vatican MSS., aiid have been translated into English, and en-
titled " The Works of Geber, comprising the Sum and Search of
Perfection ; Of the Investigation of Verity ; and Of Furnaces ; with
a Recapitulation of the Author's Experiments, by R. Eussel :
London, 1678." There are other translations, but all faulty in
one or other respect.
24 Exoteric View.
were formerly reviewed and cited by the adepts, Al-
bertus Magnus, Lully, and many more of the brightest
luminaries of their age.
" If we look back to the seventh century (we quote
from the address delivered at the opening meeting of
the Faraday Society, 1846), the alchemist is presented
brooding over his crucibles and alembics that are to
place within his reach the philosopher's stone, the
transmutation of metals, the alkahest, and the elixir of
life. With these we associate the name of Geber, the
first authentic writer on the subject ; from whose pe-
culiar and mysterious style of writing, we derive
the word gebcr or gibberish .''
Yet, notwithstanding this and much more that they
descant upon, if our modern illuminati were but half
as experienced in nature as they might be — had they
one ray even of the antique intellect they deride, how
different a scene would not that remote age present to
them ? Instead of imagining greedy dotards brooding
over their crucibles and uncouth alembics, in vain
hope of discovering the elixir and stone of philoso-
phers, they would observe the philosophers them-
selves, by a kindred light made visible, on their own
ground : experimenting indeed, but how and with
what? Not with our gross elements, our mercuries,
sulphurs, and our lifeless salts ; but in a far different
nature, with stranger arts, and with laboratories too, how
different from those now in use : — of common fittings,
yet not inferior either ; but most complete, with ves-
sels, fuel, furnaces, and every material requisite, well
adapted together and compact in one. Right skilfully
has old Geber veiled a fair discovery, by his own art
alone to be unmasked : his gibbeinsh is not of the
present day's commonplace, tame, and tolerable ;
but such ultra foolishness in literality are his receipts,
as folly is never found to venture or common sense
invent. For they are a part of wisdom's envelope, to
guard her universal magistery from an incapable and
dreaming world ; calculated they are, nevertheless,
though closely sealed, to awaken rational curiosity,
Preliminary Account. 25
and lend a helping hand to those who have already
entered on the right road ; but to deceive in practice
only the most credulous and inept. They who have
really understood Geber, his adept compeers, declare
with one accord that he has spoken the truth, though
disguisedly, with great acuteness and precision : others,
therefore, who do not profess to understand, and to
whom those writings are a mere unintelligible jargon,
may take w^arning hence, lest they exhibit to posterity
a twofold ignorance and vanity of thought.
Rhasis, another Arabian alchemist, w^as even more
publicly famous than Geber, on account of the practi-
cal displays he made of his transmuting skill. Excel-
lent extracts fi'om his writings, which are said to
exist principally in manuscript, often occur in the
w orks of Roger Bacon.
The story of the hermit Morien, how in early life he
left his family and native city (for he was a Roman),
to seek the sage Adfar, a solitary adept, whose fame
had reached him from Alexandria ; the finding him,
gaining his confidence, and becoming at length his
devoted disciple ; — is related by his biographer in a
natural and very interesting manner : also, his subse-
quent sojournings, after the death of his patron, his
intercourse with King Calid, with the initiation and
final conversion of that prince to Christianity. But the
details are given at much too great length for extract
in this place. A very attractive and esteemed work,
purporting to be a dialogue between himself and Calid,
is extant under the name of Morien, and copied into
many of the collections.^ Calid also wrote some
treatises : his Liber Sccretonim, or Secret of Secrets,
as it has been styled, is translated into English, French,
and Latin. ^
Prince Averroes, and the notorious Avicenna, next
demand notice. The latter became known to the
^ Morienus Eremita Hierosol. de Transfiguratione MetaUorum,
seu Dialogus Morieui cum Calide rege, de Lapide Pliilos.
^ See Theat. Chem. vol. v. ; Salmon's Practical Physic ; and
Le Bibliotheque des Philosoplies Chimiques.
26 Exoteric View.
world somewhere between the ninth and tenth centu-
ries. His strong but ill-directed genius, so similar to
that of Paracelsus, was the occasion of much suifering
and self-desolation ; but his name was illustrious over
Asia, and his authority continued preeminent in the
European schools of medicine until after the Reforma-
tion. He is said to have carried on the practice of
transmutation, with the magical arts in general, to
a great extent ; but his Alchemical remains are neither
lucid nor numerous, not those at least which are well
A authenticated.^
CbJt^j^JC^^^ Artofiuo was a Jew, who, by the use of the elixir, is
■^ ^ reported to have lived throughout the period of a
thousand years, with what truth or credibihty opinions
may vary ; he himself affirms it, and Paracelsus, Pon-
tanus, and Roger Bacon appear to give credence to
the tale,"^ which forms j^art of his celebrated treatise
on the philosopher's stone, and runs as follows: —
Ego vero Artefius postquam adeptus sum veram
accomplctam sapientiam in libris veridici Hermetis, fui
aliquando invidius sicut cseteri omnes, sed cum per
mille annos aut circiter qua? jam transierunt super me
-; a nativitate mea gratia soli Dei omnipotentis et usu
Ci\^e.j6JUci^ hujus mirabilis quintee essentise. — /. e. I, ArtcHuJr
^ having learnt all the art in the books of the true
Hermes, was once, as others, envious ; but having
now lived one thousand years, or thereabouts (which
thousand years have already passed over me since my
nativity, by the grace of God alone, and tlie use of
this admirable quintessence), as I have seen, through
this long space of time, that men have been unable to
perfect the same magistery on account of the obscurity
of the words of philosophers, moved by pity and
a good conscience, I have resolved, in these my last
^ The following have been attributed to him : — Avicenna de
Tinctura Metalloi-mu. Idem, Porta Elementa. Idem, de Mine-
ralibus, — printed Avith the Dantzic edition of Geber and a few
others.
' See Theophrastus Paracelsus in Libro de Vitalonga, Pontanus,
Epistola, &c. R. Bacon, in Libro de Mirab. Natur. Operib.
Preliminary Account.
27
days, to publish it all sincerely and truly ; so that
men may have nothing more to desire concerning this
work. I except one thing only, which it is not lawful
that I should write, because it can be revealed truly
only by God, or by a master. Nevertheless, this like-
wise may be learned from this book, provided one be
not stiff-necked, and have a little experience.^
This Ai'tefius forms a sort of link in the history of
Alchemy, carried as it was in the course of time from
Asia into Europe, about the period of the first cru-
sades, when a general communication of the mind of
different nations was effected by their being united
under a common cause. Sciences, arts, and civiliza-
tion, which had heretofore flourished in the East only,
were gradually transplanted into Europe ; and towards
the end of the twelfth century, or thereabouts, our
Phoenix too bestirred herself, and passed into the
West.
Roger Bacon was amongst the first to fill his lamp
from her revivescent spirit ; and with this ascending
and descending experimentally, he is said to have dis-
covered the secret ligature of natures, and their magi-
cal dissolution : he was moreover acquainted with
theology in its profoundest principles ; medicine, like-
wise physics and metaphysics on their intimate ground;
and, having proved the miraculous multiplicability of
light by the universal spirit of nature, he worked the
knowledge into such effect, that in the mineral king-
dom it produced gold.^ What marvel, persecuted as
he was for the natural discoveries which he gave to
the world, without patent or profit to himself, if he
should appropriate these final fruits of labour and long
interior study ? Yet it does not appear that he was
selfishly prompted even in this particular reservation ;
it was conscience, as he declares, that warned him
to withhold a gift somewhat over rashly and dan-
^ Artefii Autiquissimi Philosoplii de Arte Occulta atque Lapide
Philosophoriim Liber secretus.
2 See, Speculum Alchimise Eogerii Bachouis, Theat. Chem. vol.
ii. De Mirabilibus Potestatibus Artis et Naturae, &c.
28 Exoteric View.
gerously obtained. His acutely penetrative and expe-
rimental mind, not content even with enough, led
him by a fatal curiosity, as it is suggested, into for-
bidden realms of self-sufficiency and unlawful perscru-
tinations, which ended in disturbing his peace of mind,
and finally induced him to abandon altogether those
researches, in order to retrieve and expiate in solitude
the wrongs he had committed. We know that the
imputation of magic has seemed ridiculous, and every
report of the kind has been referred to the fi'iar's
extraordinary skill in the natural sciences. The rejec-
tion of his books at Oxford has often been cited as an
instance of the exceeding bigotry of those times, as
indeed it was ; and yet, are we not nearly as far off per-
haps from the truth in our liberality as were our fore-
fathers in their superstition ? An accusation of magic
has not occurred of late, nor would be likely to molest
/rccc^v seriously any philosopher of the present age ; but then
j^^i , it did^often during the dark ages, and who can tell
^ / wliether it may not again at some future day, when
men are even more enlightened and intimate with
nature than they are now ?
There are still remaining two or three works of
Roger Bacon, in which the roots of the Hermetic
science are fairly stated ; but the practice most care-
fully concealed, agreeably to that maxim, which in
his latter years he penned, tliat truth ought not to ht
shown to every ribald, for then that would become most
vile, ichich, in the hand of a philosopher, is the most
precious of all things.^
Many great lights shone through the darkness of
those middle ages ; Magians, who were drawn about
the fire of nature, as it were, into communion with her
central source. Albertus Magnus, his friend and dis-
ciple the acute Aquinas, Duns Scotus the subtle
doctor, Arnold di Villa Nova, and Raymond Lully, all
confessed adepts. John Reuchlin, Ficinus the Pla-
tonist, Picus di Mirandola, blending alchemy and
1 Speculum Ak'liimia>, iu flue. Fr. Baclioiiis Anj^lici libellua
cum iufluentiis Cceli, relates to the same mystical subject.
Preliminary Account. 29
therapeutics with neoplatonism and the cabahstic
art. Spinoza also was a profound metaphysician and
speculator on the same experimental ground. Alain
de risle the celebrated French philosopher, Merlin
(St. Ambrose), the abbot John Trithemius, Corne-
lius Agrippa his enterprising pupil, and many more
subsequent to these, great, resolute, and philosophic
spirits, who were not alone content to rend asunder
the veil of ignorance from before their own minds, but
held it still partially open for others, disclosing the in-
terior lights of science to such as were able to aspire,
and willing to follow their great example, labouring in
the way. Medium minds set limits to nature, halting
continually, and returning, before barriers which those
others overleaped almost without perceiving them.
Faith was the beacon-light that led them on to con-
viction, by a free perspicuity of thought beyond things
seen, to believe and hope truthfully, which is the dis-
tinguishing prerogative of great minds. But it will be
necessary to regard this extraordinary epoch of Occult
Science more in detail, with the testimony of its he-
roes, whose reputation, together with that of alchemy,
has suffered from the faithlessness of biographers,
compilers, commentators, and such like interference.
Most of the alchemical works of Albert, for in-
stance, have been excluded from the great editions of
his works, and the authenticity of all has been dis-
puted, but without lasting effect; for in that long and
laborious treatise, De Mineraiibus, unquestionably
his own, even if the rest were proved spurious, there
is sufficient evidence of his behef and practice to
admit all. Therein he describes the Jirst matter
of the adepts with the characteristic minuteness of
personal observation, and recommends alchemy as
the best and most easy means of rational investi-
gation. De transmutationc horum corporum metalli-
corum et mutatione unius in aliud non est physici
determinare, sed artis quae est Alchimica. Est autem
optimum genus hujus inquisitionis et certissimum, quia
Munc per causam unius cuj usque rei propriam, res
30 Exoteric View.
cognoscitur, et de accidentibus ejus minimi dubitatur,
nee est difficile cognoscere.^
This passage is one amongst many that might be
adduced from his own pen to prove that Albert was
an alchemist ; but Aquinas' disclosures are ample, re-
moving all doubt, even if he himself had left room
for any. Besides the treatise of minerals already
mentioned, there is the Libellus de Alcheniia, pub-
lished with his other works ;^ also, the ConcordamUtia
Philosuphorum de Lapide, the Secrelinn Secretorum,
and Breve Compendium in the Theatrum Chemicum,
all treating of the same subject. Albert's authority
is the more to be respected in that he gave up every
temporal advantage, riches, fame, and ecclesiastical
power, to study philosophy in a cloister remote from
the world during the greater portion of a long life.
An opinion has commonly obtained that the philoso-
pher's stone was sought after from selfish motives and
a blind love of gain : and that such has been fre-
quently the case there is no doubt ; but then such
searchers never found it. The conditions of success
are peculiar, as will be shown. Avarice is of all
motives the least likely to be gratified by the dis-
covery of wisdom. It is philosophers only that she
teaches to make gold.
Qufprunt Alchimiam, falsi quoque recti ;
Falsi sine numero, sed hi sunt rejecti ;
Et cupiditatibus, beu, tot sunt infecti
Quod inter niille millia, vix sunt tres electi
Istam ad scieutiam.^
The true adepts have been rare exceptions in the
world, despite of all calumny, famous, and favoured
above their kind. Let any one but with an unpreju-
diced eye regard the writings of those who may be
believed on their own high authority to have suc-
ceeded in this art, and he will perceive that the mo-
1 Lib. iii. de Miueralibus, cap. 1.
2 Tom. 21, in fol. Lugduni, 1653, and in Theat. Cbem. vol. ii.
' Norton's, Ordinall of Alcbemv, Preface, in Ashmole's Theat.
Chem. Brit.
Preliminary Account. 31
tives actuating- them were of the purest possible kind;
truthful, moral, always pious and intelligent, as those
of the pseudo-alchemists, on the other hand, were
reckless and despicable. But more of this hereafter.
Albertus died, magnus in magia, major in philoso-
phia, maximus in theologia ; ^ and his learning and
fame descended fully on him who had already shared
it, his disciple, the subtle and sainted Aquinas.
The truth was not likely to lie dormant in such
hands ; Aquinas wrote largely and expressly on the doc-
trine oftransmutation, and in his Thesaurus Alchimice,
addressed to his friend, the Abbot Reginald, he al-
ludes openly to the practical successes of Albert and
himself in the Secret Art.^ Vain, therefore, are attempts
of his false panegyrists, who, anxious it would seem
rather for the intellectual than the moral fame of their
hero, have ventured to slur over his assertions as du-
bious. Aquinas is much too far committed in his
writings for their quibbling exceptions to tell in proof
against his own direct and positive affirmation. Me-
talla transmutari possunt unum in aliud, says he, cum
naturalia sint et ipsorum materia eadem. Metals can
be transmuted one into another, since they are of one
and the same matter."^ Declarations more or less
plain to the same effect are frequent, and his treatise,
De Esse et Essentia, is eminently instructive. It is
true he slurs over points and sophisticates also occa-
sionally in order to screen the doctrine from superficial
detection ; for Aquinas was above all anxious to direct
inquirers to the higher purposes and application of
the divine Art, and universal theosophy, rather than
to rest its capabilities of quickening and perfection in
the mineral kingdom, as at that period many were
wont to do, sacrificing their whole life's hope to the
^ See Chronicon Magnum Belgicixm.
^ TractatusD. Ttomae Aquino datus fratri D. Keinaldo de Arte
Alchimiae.
^ Meteorum Initio, lib. iv.; and again, Prsecipuus Alcliimistarum
scopus est transmutare metalla scilicet imperfecta secundum veri-
tatem et non sophistice.
32 Exoteric View.
multiplication of gold. Fac sicut te ore tenens docui,
ut scis quod tibi non scribo, quoniam peccatum esset
hoc secretum viris secularibus revelare, qui magis
banc scientiam propter vanitatem quam propter debi-
tum finem et Dei honorem quserunt. And again, Ne
sis garrulus sed pone ori tuo custodiam ; et ut filiam
sapientum margaritam ante porcas non projicies. Noli
te, charissime, cum majori opere occupare, quia propter
salutis et Christi prEedieationis officium ; et lucrandi
tempus magni debes attendere divitiis spiritualibus,
quam lucris temporibus inhiare.^
The pretensions of Arnold di Villa Nova have not
been contested, nor are his writings the only evidence
of his skill in the Great Art. Cotemporary scholars
bear him witness, and instances are related of the won-
derful projections which he made with the transmuting
powder. The Jurisconsult, John Andre, mentions
him, and testifies to' the genuine conversion of some
iron bars into pure gold at Rome. Oldradus also and
the Abbot Panorimitanus of about the same period,
praise the Hermetic Art as beneficial and rational, and
the wisdom of the alchemist Arnold di Villa Nova.^
The works of this philosopher are very numerous.
The Rosariwn P/ii/osuphician, esteemed amongst the
best, is published in the Tlieatrum Clitmicum, and
at the end of the folio edition of his works. The
^ Thesaurus Alchimise, cap. 1 aud 8. Tractatus datus Fratri
Eeinaldo. Tliis with the Secreta Alchimioe and another are given
in the Theatrum Cheniicuni, and other collections of the Art.
^ Nostris diebus habuiinus magnum Arnoldimi di Villa Is'ova,
in Curia Romana summum medicinam et theologiam, qui etiam
magnus Alchymista virgvUas auri, quas faciebat consentiebat omni
probationi submitti, &c. (Joan Andreas in addit. ad Specidum
Eub. de crim. falsi.) Hsecille Andreas enim a doctis omnibus ad
coelum usque laudibus vectus est, quern Ludovicus Eomanus
omnium hominum pra?stantissimum appellavit. (E. ^'allensis de
Yeritate, &c., in Theat. Chem. vol. i. p. 4.) Alchimia est ars
perspicaci ingenio inveuta, ubi expenditur tantum pro tanto et
tale pro tali, sine aliquafalsificatione format vel materia^, secundum
Andream de Isernia et Oldradum. Hoc insuper firmavit Abbas
Siculus Panoramitanus, &c. (D. Fabianus de INIonte, S. Severin
in Tractatu do Emptione et Venditione, Quest 5. Oldradus, lib.
Concilio, Quest. 74.)
Preliminary Account. 33
Speculum, a luminous treatise ; ttie Carm'nia, Qut.s-
tio/ies ad Bo/iifaciut/i, the Testamentuui, and somf
others are given entire in the Thmtrum Chtmicum,
but have not been translated.
About this time and towards the close of the four-
teenth century, an excitement began to be perceptible
in the public mind. So many men of acknowledged
science and piety, one after another, agreeing about
the reality of transmutation, and giving tangible
proofs of their own skill, could not fail to produce
an effect ; the art became in high request, and its
professors were invited from all quarters, and held in
high honour by the world. Lesser geniuses caught
the scattered doctrine and set to work, some with
sufficient understanding and with various success.
Alain de I'lsle is said to have obtained the Elixir,
but his chief testimony has been excluded by the edi-
tors of his other works ; so often and unscrupulously
has private prejudice interfered to defraud the public
judgment of its rights and true data. The rejected
treatise, however, was printed separately, and may be
found in the third volume of the Theatruni Chemi-
cuin.} This philosopher also wrote a commentary on
the Prophecies of Aleiim, which are reported to have
sole reference to the arcana of the Hermetic art.^
Raymond Lully is supposed to have become ac-
quainted with Arnold, and the Universal Science, late
in life ; but when the fame of his Christian zeal and
talents had already become known and acknowledged
abroad, his declarations in favour of alchemy had the
greater weight. Unlike his cloistered predecessors,
secluded and known as they were by name only to
the world, Raymond had travelled over Europe, and
a great part of Africa and Asia ; and wdth his former
fame was at length mingled the discovery of alchemy
and the philosopher's stone. John Cremer, Abbot of
Westminster, had worked for thirty years, it is related,
^ Alani Philosophi, Dicta de Lapide.
2 Prophetia Anglicana Merlini, una cum Septem Libris Explica-
tionnni in eandem Prophetiam, &e., Alani de Insulis, T'rancf. 1608.
D
34 Exoteric View.
assiduously with the hope of obtaining the secret.
The enigmas of the old adepts had sadly perplexed and
led him astray ; but he had discovered enough to con-
vince him of the reality, and to encourage him to pro-
ceed with the investigation; when, Lully's fame having
reached him, he determined to seek that philosopher,
then resident in Italy ; was fortunate in meeting with
him and gaining his confidence ; became instructed in
the method of practice, and not a little edified by the
pious and charitable life which LuUy led there, and
recommended to others. Desirous of becoming still
more intimately enlightened than was convenient in
that place, Cremer invited and brought over with him
Raymond Lully to England ; where he was presented
to the king, then Edward II., who had also before
invited him from Vienna, being much interested in
the talents and reputed skill of the stranger, and now
more than ever by the promise of abundant riches
which the sight of Cremer's gold held out to him.
Lully, still as ever zealous for the promulgation of
the Christian religion, promised to produce for the
king all monies requisite, if he felt disposed to engage
in the crusades anew. , Edward did not hesitate, but
complied with every condition respecting the appli-
ance of the gold, provided only Lully would supply
it. The artist accordingly set to work, so the story
runs, in a chamber set apart for him in the Tower, and
produced fifty thousand pounds weight of pure gold.
His own words relative to the extraordinary fact in
his testament, are these ; — Converti una vice in aurum
fet millia pondo argenti vivi, plumbi et stanni. I
converted, says he, at one time fifty thousand pounds
weight of quicksilver, lead and tin, into gold.'
The king no sooner received this, than breaking-
faith wath Lully, in order to obtain more, the artist
w^as made a prisoner in his own laboratory, and with-
out regard at all to the stipulation, before engaged
in, ordered to commence his productive labours anew.
This base conduct on the part of his king was much
' Ultimnm Testamentum TJ. Lnllii.
Preliminary Account. 35
lamented by Cremer, who expresses indignation thereat
openly in his TeMament ; ^ and the whole story has
been repeatedly recorded in the detailed chronicles of
those times. But to be short, our hero fortunately
escaped from his imprisonment, and a coinage of the
gold was struck in pieces weighing about ten ducats
each, called Nobles of the Rose. Those who have ex-
amined these coins pronounce them to be of the finest
metal, and the inscription round the margin distin-
guishes them from all others in the Museums, and
denotes their miraculous origin. They are described
in Camden's Antiquities, and for the truth of the whole
story, we have, besides Cremer's evidence and the
declarations of Lully, a great deal of curious cotem-
porary allusion to be found in the books of Olaus
Borrichius, R. Constantius, I'Englet Dufresnoy, and
Dickenson. The last relates that some time after the
escape of Lully, there was found in the cell he occupied
at Westminster with Cremer, whilst it was undergoing
some repairs, a certain quantity of the powder of
transmutation, by means of which the workmen and
architects became enriched.^
Lully's writings on Alchemy are, as the rest, ob-
scure ; and have only been understood with great
pains and application even by those who have been so
fortunate as to possess the key of his cabalistic
mind. Whether his equivocal and contradictory lan-
guage was so contrived to baffle the sordid chemists ;
or whether, as before said, he learned the art late in
life, being previously incredulous, and was convinced
at last only by Arnold exhibiting the transmutation
^ Cremeri Testamentuin.
^ Aureas illas nobiles Anglorum primftm profectas memorat
(ex E-aymundi) Camdenus. Idem liodieque asseverantissime con-
firmant Anglorum ciiriosi, additque Edmundus Dickensonus
Lulliuin in coenobio Westmonasteriensi vixisse nou ingratiim
liospitem : enimvero pluribus ab ejus discessu amnis, resarta
quam incoluerat cellula multum adhuc pulveris Chrysopoei in
Cistiila repertum, magno inventoris architecti emolumeuto. See
Olaus Borrichius de Ortu et Progressu Chemi?e, 4to. p. 242 ; and
E. Diol^enson, de Quintessentia.
D 2
3G Exoteric View.
in his presence ; it would require scrupulous examina-
tion to judge at this day : certain it is there are pas-
sages in his writings which leave room for controversy,
though none, we think, virtually denying the art,
whilst his essays in favour of it are acknowledged
excellent and numerous ; as many as two hundred are
given in the catalogue of Dufresnoy treating exclu-
sively on this subject.^
Those, were singular times when few any longer
doubted the possibility of gold-making, and individuals
of the highest repute devoted their lives to the subtle
investigation. We have adduced this notable instance
of Lully's prowess in England, as one only amongst
many others, quite as well authenticated, which are
told by the authors before cited and in the alchemical
collections. Public curiosity was stimulated to the
highest pitch ; experiments were made reckless of con-
sequences, and the spirit of avarice, bursting forth
expectant, absolutely raged. Whether the incaution
of adepts, in making their art too publicly profitable,
had given rise to the frenzy, or whether it was spon-
taneously kindled, or from whatever cause, the fact is
lamentably certain ; the Stone was no longer sought
after by philosophers alone ; not only have we Lully,
Cremer,Rupecissa,De Meun,Flammel,John Pontanus,
Basil Valentine, Norton, Ripley, and the host of co-
temporary worthies, successively entering the lists ;
but with these a spurious brood of idlers living on the
pubhc credulity, and which the practical evidence of
these others continued to ferment ; men of all ranks,
persuasions and degrees of intelligence, of every variety
of calling, motive and imagination, were, as mono-
maniacs, searching after the stone.
As Popes ^vitll Cardinals of dignity,
Arelibysliops with Byshops of high degree.
With Abbots and Priors of religion.
With Friars, Heremites, and Preests mania one,
* Histoire Hermetique, vol. iii. His Theoria et Practica,
given in the third volume of the Theat. Chem., appears to us one
of the very best pieces of Alchemical philosopliy extant.
Preliminary Account. 37
And Kings with Princes and Lords great of bloode,
For everie estate desireth after goode ;
And the Merchaunts alsoe, which dwell in fiere
Of brenning covetise, have thereto desire ;
And common workmen will not be out-lafte,
For as well as Lords they love this noble crafte.
As Grouldsmithes, whome we shall leaste repreuve
For sights in theii' craft mevetli them to beleeve ;
But wonder it is that Brewers deale with such werkes,
Free Masons, and Tanners, with poore parish clerkes ;-
Tailors and Glaziers woll not therefore cease,
And eke sely Tinkers will put them in preaae
With great presumption ; yet some collour there was
For all such men as give tmcture to glasse ;
But manie Artificers have byn over swifte.
With hastie credence to sume away their thrifte ;
And albeit their losses made them to smarte
Yet ever in hope continued their hearte ;
Trustinge some tyme to speede right well.
Of manie such truly I can tell ;
A¥hich in such hope continued all their lyfe,
Whereby they were made poore and made to unthrive :
It had byne good for them to have left oft'
In season, for noughte they founde except a scoffe,
For trewly he that is not a great clerke,
Is nice and lewde to medle with this werke ;
Ye may trust me it is no small inginn.
To know alle secrets pertaining to this myne.
For it is most profounde philosophye
This subtill science of holy Alkimy.^
Many usurped the title of adepts, who had no know-
ledge even of the prehminaries of the Art ; sometimes
deceiving, at others, being themselves deceived ; and it
has been principally from the fraudulent pretensions of
those dabblers, that the world has learned to despise Al-
chemy, confounding the genuine doctrine with their
sophistical and vile productions ; and a difficulty yet re-
mains to distinguish them, and segregate, from so great
an interspersion of darkness, the true light. For a mul-
titude of books were put forth with the merest pur-
pose of deception, and to ensnare the unwary ; some
indeed affirming, that the truth was to be found in
salts, or nitres, or boraxes ; but others, in all vege-
table bodies indiscriminately, committing a multifa-
1 Norton's Ordinall in Ashmole's Theat. Chem. Brit. p. 7.
38 Exoteric View.
rious imagination to posterity. Nor did these alone
content the evil spirit of that day, but it must intro-
duce mutilated editions of the old masters, filled with
inconsistencies, and the wicked inventions of designing
fraud ; and thus, as the adept observes, they have
blasphemed the Sacred Science, and by their errors
have brought contempt on men philosophising.
As of that Mounke wliicli a boke did write
Of a thousand receipts iu malice for despighte,
Which he copied in manie a place.
Whereby hath byn made manie a pale face
And manie gowndes have been made bare of hewe,
And men made fals which beforetimes were trewe.^
Nor has the literature alone suffered from such
knavish interpolation ; but the social consequences
are described, at the time, as deplorable ; rich mer-
chants, and others, greedy of gain, were induced to
trust quantities of gold, silver, and even precious
stones, wdiich they lost, in the vain hope of getting them
multiplied ; and these rogueries became so frequent
and notorious, that at last acts of Parliament were
passed in England, and Pope's Bulls issued over
Christendom, forbidding transmutation, on pain of
death, and the pursuit of alchemy."^ But this, w^hilst
giving an external check, did not smother the
desire of riches, or that morbid desire of them, so
long fostered in the expectation ; experiments con-
tinued to be carried on in secret with no less ardour
than before, both by knaves and philosophers. Pope
John XXII., who interdicted it, is said to have
practised the art himself extensively, and to have
wonderfully enriched the public treasury through its
means. But to bring forward each extraordinary tra-
dition and character of the various artists who flou-
rished during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries,
would trespass too far on our pages ; and for the
present purpose, it may be needful only to detail the
more remarkable.
^ Norion'is Ordinall, cap. 1.
^ See Dufrec<uoy, Hist. Herm. vol. ii. p. 11, &c.
Preliminary Account. 39 \ ^^^^^'^^
Amongst them, the story of Nicholas Flammel,
and his wife Perne4:te, has been thought interest-
ing. Their humble origin, sudden accumulation of
wealth, their charitable distribution of it, and the
eminent piety and mystery of their lives, attracted
great attention in their own country, and a wide-
spread fame has descended and connects their
name honourably with the history of the Hermetic
art. The relation given simply by the author con-
cerning himself is as follows ; — 1, Nicholas Flam-
mel, Scrivener, living in Paris, in the year of our
Lord, 1399, in the Notary-street, near St. James, of
the Boucherie, though I learned not much Latin, be-
cause of the poverty of my parents, who, notwith-
standing were, even by those who envy me most,
accounted honest and good people ; yet, by the bless-
ing of God, I have not wanted an understanding of
the books of the philosophers, but learned them, and
attained to a certain kind of knowledge, even of their
hidden secrets. For which cause's sake, there shall
not any moment of my life pass wherein, remembering
this so vast good, I will not render thanks to this my
good and gracious God. After the death of my pa-
rents, I, Nicholas Flammel, got my living by the art
of writing, ingrossing, and the like ; and in the course
of time, there fell by chance into my hands a gilded
book, very old and large, which cost me only two
florins. It was not made of paper or parchment, as
other books are, but of admirable rinds, as it seemed
to me, of young trees ; the cover of it was brass,
well bound, and graven all over with a strange kind of
letters, which I took to be Greek characters, or some
such like. This I know, that I could not read them ;
but as to the matter which was written within, it was
engraven, as I suppose, with an iron pencil, or graver,
upon the said bark leaves ; done admirably well, and
in fair neat Latin letters, and curiously coloured. It
contained thrice seven leaves, for so they were num-
bered on the top of each folio, and every seventh leaf
40 Exoteric View.
was without writini< ; but in place thereof were se-
veral images and figures painted.
Further, going on to describe the book and these
hieroglyphics minutely, Flammel relates how, at
length, after much study and fi'uitless toil, their mean-
ing was explained to him by a Jew stranger, whom lie
met with in his travels ; and how on his return home,
he set to work and succeeded in the discovery, is thus
familiarly declared : — He that would see the manner
/-eA^vfi l^t of my arrival home, and the joy of Pornotto, let him
look upon us two in the city of Paris, upon the door
of the chappel of James', in the Boucherie, close by one
side of my house, where we are both painted, kneel-
ing, and giving thanks to God : for through the
grace of God it was, that I attained the ])erfect know-
ledge of all that I desired. I had now the ■prima ina-
teria, the first principles, yet not their preparatiofi,
which is a thing most difficult above all things in the
world ; but in the end I had that also, after a long-
aberration and wandering in the labyrinth of errors,
for the space of three years. During which time, I
did nothing but study and search and labour, so as
you see me depicted without this arch, where I have
shown my process, praying also continually unto God,
and reading attentively in my book, pondering the
words of the philosophers, and then trying and proving
the various operations which I thought they might
mean by their words. At length, I found that which
I desired ; which I also soon knew, by the scent and
odor thereof. Having this, I easily accomplished the
magistery. For knowing the prcparatioi/s of the prime
agents, and then literally following the directions in
my book, I could not then miss the work if I would.
Having attained this, I came now to Projection ; and
the first time I made projection, was upon mercury;
a pound and a-half whereof, or thereabouts, I turned
into pure silver, better than that of the mine ; as I
proved by assaying it myself, and also causing others
to assay it for me, several times. This was done in
Preliminary Account. 41
the year, a.d. 1382, January 17, about noon, in my
own house, Pcrncttc alone being present with me. J ^Ayn^e, CC^
Again following the same directions in my book, word
by word, 1 made projection of the Red Stone, on a like
quantity of mercury, Pcrnotte-only being present, and / -OAyruzJiA. o^
in the same house ; which was done in the same year,
April 25, at five in the afternoon. This mercury I
truly transmuted into almost as much gold, much
better indeed than common gold, more soft also, and
more pliable. I speak in all truthfully. I have made ^
it three times with the help of Pdmiette, who under- /eAyn^J^iLy
stands it as well as myself; and, without doubt, if she
would have done it alone, she would have brought the
work to the same, or full as gi'eat perfection as I had
done. I had truly enough, when I had once done it ;
but I found exceeding great pleasure and delight in
seeing and contemplating the admirable works of na-
ture, icithin the vessels. And to show you that I had
then done it three times, I caused to be depicted under
the same arch, three furnaces, like to those which
serve for the operations of the work. I w^as much
concerned for a long time, lest Pernette, by reason of
extreme joy, should not hide her felicity, which I
measured by my ow^n ; and lest she should let fall
some words amongst her relations, concerning the
great treasure which we possessed. But the goodness
of the great God, had not only given and filled me
with this blessing, in giving me a sober chaste wife ;
but she was also a wise prudent woman, not only ca-
pable of reason, but also to do what was reasonable ;
and made it her business, as I did, to think of God,
and to give ourselves to the work of charity and
mercy. Before the time wherein I wrote this dis-
course, wdiich was at the latter end of the year 1413,
after the death of my beloved companion ; she and I
had already founded and endowed with revenues four-
teen hospitals, three chapels, and seven churches, in
the city of Paris ; all which we had new built from the
ground, and were able to enrich with gifts and reve-
42 Exoteric View.
nues. We have also done at Bologne about the same
as at Paris, besides our private charities, which it would
be unbecomin*^ to particularise. Building, therefore,
these hospitals, churches, &c., in the aforesaid cities, I
caused to be depicted under the said fourth arch, the
most true and essential marks and signs of this art,
yet under veils and types and hieroglyphical charac-
ters ; demonstrating to the w'ise and men of under-
standing, the direct and perfect way of operation and
liiieary work of the philosopher's stone ; which being
perfected by any one, takes away from him the root of
all sin and evil ; changing his evil into good, and mak-
ing him liberal, courteous, religious, fearing God, how-
ever wicked he was before, provided only he carries
through the work to its legitimate end. For from
thenceforward he is continually ravished with the
goodness of God, and wdth his grace and mercy, which
he has obtained from the fountain of eternal goodness ;
with the profundity of his Divine and adorable power,
and wath the contemplation of his admirable works.
Part of this relation is given of himself by the au-
thor in his Hieroglyphics, and part is taken from his
Testament ; and chronicles recount as late as the year
1740, that the evidence of his charitable deeds re-
mained and the symbols of the art in the cemetery of
the Holy Innocents at the church of St. James, on
the Marivaux door, at the portal of St. Geneveve,
&c.,^ Amongst the writings of Flammel, besides
those already quoted from, we have Le Sommaire Phi-
losophicjae, in French verse, which is also translated
in the Theatruni Chemicuni, an esteemed w^ork, with
important annotations at the end ; Le Desir desire, and
Lk Grande Eclaircissement , wdiich are more rarely to
be met with.
The Isaacs, father and son, Dutch adepts, are said
to have worked successfully, and are much lauded by
' See Histoire Hermetique, vol. i. p. 20G ; Lives of the Adepts,
p. 38. Les Hieroglyphiques de N. Flammel.
Preliminary Account. 43
Boerhaave, who appears not either to have been a
stranger to their pursuit or to the principles of occult
science.^
But Basil Valentine is the star of the fifteenth cen-
tury ; he is generally reported to have been a Benedic-
tine hermit ; but a mystery hangs about his indivi-
duality which has never been satisfactorily cleared up,
though careful researches have been made, and his
numerous w^orks written in all languages, called forth
nmch curiosity on their appearance and have been held
in high estimation by students in the Hermetic art.
He ranks high amongst his brethren for having, as
they say, discovered a new method of working the
Red Elixir, and facilitated the process materially, which
had been hitherto laborious and a rare effect, as ap-
pears from those lines of Norton.
How that manie men patient and wise,
Found our White Stone with exercise ;
After that they were trewly taught,
With great labor, that stone they caught ;
But few (saith he) or scarcely one ;
In fifteen kingdoms hath our Red Stone.
Whom to seeke it availeth right noughte,
Till the white medicine be fully wrought ;
Neither Albertus Magnus, the Blacke Freere,
Neither Freer Bacon his compeere.
Had not of our Eed Stone consideration
Him to increase in multiplication, &c.^
The Hamburg edition of Basil Valentine's works
may be considered the most perfect.^ The English
translations are rambling and incomplete ; with the
single exception of that one which is taken from the
Latin of Kirchringius, with his admirable commentary
on the Triumphal Chariot of Antimony and Stone
of Fii^e. The Twelve Keys are rendered in the Biblio-
theque des Philosopher Chimiques, second edition.
A valuable collection of English Alchemy in verse
1 Joan Isaac HoUandus de Lapide Philosophico, Francf. 1G69.
Isaac Hollandus Opera Universalia, sive de Lapide Philm., &c.
2 Norton's Ordiuall, chap. 5.
^ Chimische Schriiften, Fr. Basillii A^alentinii, in 12mo. 1717.
44 Exoteric View.
was published by Elias Ashmole, himself a lover of
occult science, and the great patron, in his day, of
those who made it their study. Neither was he igno-
rant of the subject, if we may judge by the preface
and curious notes appended to his Tlicatrum, wherein
he exposes certain principles of magic, and alludes
to the manual artifice without much disguise. I
must profess, says he, I know enough to hold my
tongue, but not enough to speak ; and the no less real
than miraculous fruits I have found, in my diligent
inquiry in these arcana, lead me on to such degrees
of admiration, they command silence, and force me
to lose my tongue, lest, being not wholly experi-
enced, as he goes on to say, I should add to the
many injuries the world has already suffered, by de-
livering the bare medley of my apprehensions without
the confident attestation of practice ; and be justly es-
teemed as indiscrete as those whom Ripley mentions,
that prate,
Wyth wondreng.
Of Eobiu Hood, and of his Bow,
Whycli never sliot therin I trow.^
Norton's Ordinal, dated 1477, with which this
Hermetic Theatre opens, is a praiseworthy perform-
ance, and with the exception of the Subject Matter
and certain preliminaries, which are constantly con-
cealed, the process is presented in a candid, orderly,
^ and attractive manner. So much cannot be said for
0( the Cannon Ripley, of Bridlington, wdiose private mis-
fortunes would seem to have made him envious. His
composition is disorderly, and those Tivelve Gates
have, we conceive, little edified any without the
Lodge. Added also to his own wilful misguidance, the
verses are said to have suffered spoliation and dis-
placement from the order in which they were originally
written, according to the mischievous cabalistic method
in vogue at that time. Ripley, therefore, is univer-
sally complained of, though reputed a good adept.
^ Aslnnole's Tlieatruin C'lieuiicum Britanicum, London, 1652.
Preliminary Account. 45
The commentary published by the celebrated Anony-
mous adept Eireneus Philalethes, under the title of
Riplej/ Jxevived , though itexplains a great deal practically
and may soom to lead on the initiated, yet will appear in- oCevz^"^^
famously sophistical and inevitably disgust a beginner.^
All Ashmole's collection is valuable, even were it
only as a specimen of early mystic literature. The
Fragment from Pierce, the Black Monke, Bloomfield's
Blossoms, and Philosophy and Experience, are amongst
the most instructive. Ashmole's intention of collect-
ing the English prose writings on Alchemy was not
accomplished ; only a few scattered portions were edited
and these not of the best.
Ficinus, an Italian of highly cultivated genius, w^ell
known as the Latin translator of Plato, and saviour
of other valuable remnants of antique literature, was
also an amateur in the Hermetic art. He collected
and translated the works imputed to Hermes, before
mentioned, from Greek into Latin, and took pains
elsewhere theoretically to explain the art.^ Picus,
prince di Mirandola, was his contemporary, and wrote
a treatise, in which he connects Alchemy w^ith the
most profound metaphysical science.^
Then w^e have the remarkable instance of Cornelius
Agrippa, a man of pow^erful and penetrating genius,
who, having possessed himself of the means and prin-
ciples of the Occult Science from his friend, the wary
and learned Abbot Trithemius, set to work something it
would seem after the example of Friar Bacon, proving
them in a self-sufficient order. His three books Of
Occult Philosophy, especially the first tw^o, illustrate
the practical bias and enterprising nature of his mind ;
but as he declares, he had not, when he wrote them,
arrived at a full experience, nor was he able to make
1 Ripley Eevived, being au Exposition of Sir George Ripley's
Gates, and his Epistle to King Edward, by Eireneus Philalethes.
2 Marsilii Ficini Elorent. Liber de Arte Chemica.
'^ J. E. Picus, de Auro in Theat. Cliem. vol. ii. ; also, J. F. P.
MirandolfB Domini, Concordieque, Opus Aureum de Auro. Idem,
Libri tres de Auro turn conficiendo, &e.
46 Exoteric View.
the philosopher's stone. But it was this discovery,
made later in Ufe, which caused him to be discontent-
ed with his former revelation, and to publish that
book on the Vanity of the Sciences, which has been
considered as a recantation of his former philoso-
phy ; but which is in fact no recantation at all, but a
consummation rather and conclusion in general of his
works. Any one taking- the pains to read may per-
ceive that Agrippa WTote it neither in ignorance nor in
despair of human knowdedge. It was by searching
and proving the magnitude of the Mystery, that he
arrived at that final and convictive faith, which is as
much above ordinary science as the \ailgar credulity of
mankind is below it. It is not the part of a mind,
sane and philosophic, to fall back content in igno-
rance, or to retrograde passively in despair of its object.
The vanity of particular and temporal sciences is dis-
covered by comparison only in the broad day light of
universal truth ; and there stood the magician at last
wdien, as it were fi'om the top of Celsus' ladder, look-
ing down upon the steps by which he had climbed, and
wdiereon he had successively rested, he observed their
inferiority and the small, prospect they afforded in
comparison wath that which he now, at their clear
summit, enjoyed. Let any one read from the Vanity
of the Sciences the chapter on Alclicmii, and judge
wdiether the author contradicts, as report has said, or
contemns merely the experience of his early youth ;
and where, after showing the folly of pretenders,
speaking of the genuine Hermetic art, he says, — I
could tell many things of this art, if I had not sworn
to keep silence, and this silence is so constantly and
religiously observed of the ancient philosophers, that
there is found no faithful writer of approved authority,
that hath openly described this art : which thing has
induced many to believe that all books of this art
were but of late years invented, &c. Finally of the
one blessed stone alone, besides which there is no
other thing, the subject of the most holy stone of
philosophers, to speak rashly, w'ould be a sacrilege
Preliminary Account. 47
and I should be foresworn.^ Looking to the final
chapters of the same work also, we observe the ground
of the whole Hermetic philosophy laid out, and the
relative vanity of worldly science to that, which is
universal, rational, and divine. The capabilities of the
subject are great; and had it been treated in the usual
full and masterly style of the scholar of Nettesheim,
it would have remained a work of lasting value ; but
he was fettered by oaths and had been somewhat con-
science stricken; and the monks, whom he had formerly
censured, eagerly promulgated the whole as a recanta-
tion of foraier errors, holding it up in this light and
as an acknowledgment of the sufficienc}'^ of their own
doctrine and of the common faith for salvation.
In the beginning of his extraordinary career, Theo-
phrastus Paracelsus proposed openly to discover the
hidden secret of philosophy ; but the world scoffed at
his pretensions, abused and persecuted him ; and all
the revenge he indulged in, was to leave it unenlight-
ened. The writings he put forth are, with few excep-
tions, filled with subtle malice, as it were, so many
sarcasms upon mankind, and leading them far away,
through alluring sophisms, from the straight way of
truth. Surely, as Ashmole remarks, incredulity appears
to have been given to the world as a punishment ; yet
neither in its belief did it speed better, but has still
plodded on in error for want of thought, and through
all ages men have suffered in ignorance, on account
mainly of the indifference and selfishness of their de-
sires. Of the numerous books attributed to Paracelsus,
and given together as his works, the three Addresses
to the Aiheuiaris, and the Aurora, are amongst the
best. Those to the Athenians have been translated
into English, and published with The Philosopliy of
J. Crollius, a disciple, and the Aurora also is to be
met with, though more rarely, in company with the
Water Stone uf the Wise Men, by J. Grasseus. Witli
respect to the private history and character of this ex-
traordinary man, accounts differ, and opinions accord-
1 See De Vanitate Scientiarum, Alcli. &e.
48 Exoteric View.
ingly ; but his fame, and the authority of his doctrine,
lasted down through a long period of time. His early
death has been adduced as an argument against the
probability of his being possessed of the elixir he
boasts ; and by others as a proof of his having been
poisoned : but the poison of intemperance and irre-
gular living has also been considered as especially likely
to be fatal to one who was in the habit of taking a
potent spiritual medicine, which w^ould heighten the
physical consequences of depravity and habitual ex-
cess, and accelerate dissolution in the conflict of op-
posite principles.^ Paracelsus, notwithstanding the
world's neglect, had numerous disciples, increasing
also after his decease : some intelligent and worthy
the name of philosophers, as Van Helmont, Crollius,
Fludd, Helvetius, Faber, and many more anonymous ;
but there were others, mountebank pretenders, more
in number still, who, pursuing the baser line of their
master's example, whilst they enviously suppressed the
little truth they kneW', wrote and practised for lucre,
leading mankind into error and the commitment even
of egregious crimes by their receipts. And the world
which would not be drawn by the true light, gave
easy way to their false stimulants, and encouraged the
enemies' growth in literature, until the tares possessed
the field ; nor could it be well otherwise, as a modern
adept has observed on the occasion, for this bushel
being placed over the light, the darkness of it invited
ignorance abroad.
The burlesques of Erasmus, which, towards the
close of the sixteenth century, were turned upon the
follies then continually going on amongst the cre-
dulous chemists and their dupes, show that it was the
prevailing mania of the age ; when rich men and
potentates fell easily into the snares of the low^est
vagabonds, who had acquired the tact only to write
and talk mysteriously. Chaucer, in the tale of the
Chanons Yeoman, gives an example of this kind of
the boastings, bereavements, and surpassing beliefs
^ Seo LiA'es of the Alcliemists, p. ^)2.
Preliminary Account. 49
of ignorance ; as Ripley also, in his Et^rofteous Expe-
riments, tells how he
Made solucyoiis full many a one,
Of spyrytts, ferments, salts, yerne and Steele ;
AVenyng so to make the philosopliers stone ;
But finally I lost eche dele,
After my boks yet wrought I well ;
Wliich evermore untrew I provyd,
That made me oft full sore agrevyd.
Waters corrosyve and waters ardent.
With which I wrought in divers wyse,
Many one I made but all was shent ;
Egg shells I calcenyd twyse or thryse,
Oylys fro calcys I made up ryse ;
And every element fro other I did twyne
But profytt found I ryght none therein.
Also I wrought in sulphur and in vitriall,
Whych folys doe caU the Grene Lyon,
In arsenicke, in orpemint, fowle mot them fall ;
In delibi principio was myne inceptyon :
Therefore was frawde in fyne the conclusyon :
And I blew my thryft at the cole,
My clothys were bawdy, my stomache was never hole,
I provyd uryns, eggs, here, and blod.
The scalys of yern whych smethys do off smyte,
Qj]s, ust, and crokefer whych dyd me never good :
The sowle of Saturn and also marchisyte,
Lythage and antimony not worth a myte :
Of whych gey tinctures I made to shew,
Both red and white whych were untrew,
Oyle of Lune and water wyth labor greatt,
I made calcynyng yt with salt precipytate.
And by hytself with vyolent heatt
Grindyng with vynegar tyll I was fatygate :
And also with a quantitye of spyces acuate ;
Upon a marble whych stode me oft in cost
And oyles with corrosyves I made ; but all was lost.
Thus I rostyd and boy 1yd as one of Geber's cooks.
And oft tymes my wynnyng in the asches I sought ;
For I was dysceivyd wyth many falce books
Whereby untrue, thus truly I wrought :
But all such experyments avaylyd me nought ;
But brought me in danger and in cumbraunce.
By loss of goods and other grievaunce, &c.^
' An Admonition of Erroneous Experiments, Theat. Chem.
Brit. p. 189.
E
50 Exoteric View.
The tide so long encroaching, however, began at
last to fluctuate ; and as mistrust, gathering fi'om dis-
appointment, ripened, a change somewhat suddenly
took place in the public mind, and turned finally into
an absolute odium of the deluding alchemists and their
art. Then it was that several were obliged to retire
into exile ; and even the true adepts — for the public
knew^ not to distinguish — suffered equal cruelty and
abundant inconvenience. They who before had been
courted and lauded in hopes of obtaining gold, or the
means of making it, were arrested and tortured, in
order to extort confession ; accordingly we find mixed
up with their philosophy, bitter complaints of injury,
thefts, murders, and unjust imprisonments. Alex-
ander Sethon was hunted through Europe in disguise,
not daring to remain in any town, for fear of de-
tection.— I am suffering, says this author, in his
Open Entrance^ a continual banishment : deprived
of the society of friends and family, and, as if driven
by the Furies, am compelled constantly to fly from
place to place and from kingdom to kingdom, with-
out delaying anywhere. And thus, though I possess
all things, I have no rest or enjoyment of any, except
in the truth, which is my whole satisfaction. They
who have not a knowledge of this art imagine, if they
had, they would do many things : I also thought
the same, but am grow^n circumspect b}^ experience of
many dangers and the peril of life. I have seen so
much corruption in the world, and those even who
pass for good people are so ruled by the love of
gain, that I am constrained even from the works of
mercy, for fear of suspicion and arrest. I have expe-
rienced this in foreign countries, Avhere, ha^dng ven-
tured to administer the medicine to sufferers given
over by physicians, the instant the cures became
known, a report was spread about of the Elixir, and I
have been obliged to disguise myself, shave my head,
and change my name, to avoid falling into the hands
of wicked persons, who would try to ^^Test the secret
from me, in hopes of making gold. I could relate
Preliminary Account. 51
many incidents of this kind which have happened to
me. Would to God that gold and silver were as
common as the street mud ; we should not then be i/Lj^
obliged to fly and hide ourselves, as if we were ac-
cursed like Cain.' Michael Sendivogius was im- //p
prisoned by his prince ; even the pious Kiiinrath is r/iiA^
moved to bitterness, when speaking of the treatment / /
he had experienced : George Von Welling, Fichtuld,
Miiller, Harprecht, also ; for the good and innocent
now suffered more and more everywhere for the impo-
sitions of knaves, and were therefore compelled to
be silent and more than ever cautious to conceal their
names, with the evidence of Alchemy, from the world.
And as the mind of the day became gradually engaged
in puritanical discussions, and the interests of political
leaders, indifference to the art again succeeded, and a
scepticism, as blind, and nearly as pernicious as the
former credulity, settled upon the minds of men.
But philosophers were content to have it so ; observ-
ing the incapability of the common herd, and how
little they cared for truth, or the witness of nature's
greatest miracles, in comparison w^ith their own selfish
emolument. Some gathered themselves together for
better protection, and carrying on their work into the
Rosicrucian Fraternity, a widely celebrated, though
secret association, established, as the report is, by a
German adeptist, who had travelled into the East,
and in Arabia was initiated into many arcane mysteries
of nature. Their Fame and Confession, wdth the story
of their first institution, has been rendered into Eng-
lish, with an excellent Preface, by Thomas Vaughan,
and an Appendix, showing the true nature of their
philosophy, place of abode, and other particulars con-
nected with their magian prowess and renown.
But we must not omit to notice the names of Dee
and Kelly, two notorious magicians of Queen Eliza-
beth's time ; for though the latter was somewhat of
a knave, and a little over-presumptuous, yet there is
^ See Introitus Apertus ad Occlusum Keg6M*i Palaties (?ap- xiii.
E 2
52 Exoteric View,
reason to believe that he practised transmutation,
and became possessed of the Red Powder by some
secret kind of information, if not of the means of
perfecting it by his own art. Thus it was generally
reported of Dr. Dee and Kelly, that they were so
strangely fortunate as to discover a very large quan-
tity of the Powder of Projection in a niche amongst
the ruins of Glastonbury Abbey, and which was so
rich in virtue (being 1 upon 272,330), that they lost a
great portion in trial, before they found out the true
height of the medicine. With this treasure they went
abroad, fixed their abode at Trebona, and transmuted
occasionally. In Dee's diary we have the account of
Kelly making projection with one small grain (in pro-
portion no larger than the least grain of sand) upon
an ounce and a quarter of common mercury, which
produced almost an ounce of pure gold.^ Then there
is the story of the warming-pan, related by Ashmole,
from no very distant testimony, of a piece of the metal
being cut out and, without Kelly's touching or hand-
ling it, or melting the copper even, only warming it
in the fire, the elixir being projected thereon, it was
transmuted into pure silver. The pan, he goes on to
relate, was sent to the Queen Elizabeth by her ambas-
sador, who then lay at Prague ; that, by fitting the
piece into the place whence it was cut out, it might
exactly prove to be once a part of that pan. Broom-
field had likewise seen in the hands of one Master
Trye and Scroope, rings of Sir Edward Kelly's gold,
the fashion of which was only gold wire twisted thrice
about the finger ; of wdiich fashioned rings he gave
away to the value of 4000/. at the marriage of one of
his servants. This was highly generous ; but, to say
the truth, he was openly profuse beyond the modest
limits, as Ashmole observes, of a sober philosopher.^
This kind of profusion has been fi'equently exhibited
by such as are reported to have come by the treasure
1 Dee's Diary, Sept. 1586.
^ See notes appendeil to the Tlieat. Chem. Brit.
Preliminary Account. 53
casually, never by those who have themselves con-
fected it.
During the abode at Trebona, Dee and Kelly
appear to have tried many experiments, and their
conversations with their spiritual informants are lu-
dicrously mundane and abortive.^ Whether or not
they finally succeeded in the object of their research,
remains uncertain ; the story runs that they did not,
but that the secret of making the Powder was con-
fided to Kelly some years afterwards by a dying monk.
In Dee's Diary, towards the latter end, there cer-
tainly are expressions of joy and gratitude, as if he
had suddenly attained to some great and important
discovery ; — Hgec est dies quam fecit Dominus, omne
quod vivit laudet Dominum ; — and upon the thirtieth
day of the month following, he writes, — Master E.
Kelly did open the great secret to me, God be
thanked.
Things were not carried on so privately abroad, but
the Queen had notice of the proceedings of her sub-
jects ; and she sent letters and messages summoning
them to return home : Dee obeyed, but Kelly re-
maining behind, was taken prisoner by the Emperor
Rudolph, who had long set a watch over their move-
ments. It was during this detention, that he wrote
that little book, entitled De Lapide Philosophurum,
which is commonly to be met with, but is of little
more value than repute. The death of Kelly is in-
volved in mystery, and Dee is said to have expired in
poverty at Mortlake.
The writings of Jacob Bohme, the profound theo-
sophist of Prague, and those of the Pordage and
Lead school, may not be undervalued, since these en-
thusiasts were all on the same original track ; and the
first would seem to have attained something better
even than a view of the Promised Land. Moreover,
Bohme has discovered such a ground of experience
^ See " A true and faithful Relation of what passed for many
Years between Dr. John Dee and some Spirits." The book is
comparatively rare : London, 1659.
54 Exoteric View.
and principles of the Divine Art in his writings, as
may help the student to conceive profoundly, and
lead liim to the means of understanding the enigmas
of the old adepts. For this author is, of all who have
hitherto entered experimentally into the mystery, the
plainest, simplest, and most confidential exponent. The
Aurora, or Daj/ Spring ; The Discourse of the Three
Principles ; The Alj/sterium Magnum ; The Tree of
Life ; The Turned Eye, or Forty Questions concerning
the Life of Man, and his Epistles, are full of explicit
indications concerning the physical basis of magic and
occult material of the philosopher's stone. ^ So that
the following eulogy, copied from a manuscript found
in a volume of his works, may not be considered mis-
placed, or altogether extravagant : —
AVhate'er the Eastern Magi sought,
Or Orpheus sung, or Hermes taught,
Wliate'er Coufucius would inspire,
Or Zoroaster's mystic fire ;
The symbols that Pythagoras tlreAv,
The wisdom godlike Plato knew,
What Socrates debating proved,
Or Epictetus lived and loved ;
The sacred fire of saint and sage,
Thro' every clime in every age,
In Bohme's wondi'ous page we view,
Discover'd and revealed anew, &c.
Revealed anew, it will be observed, theosophically,
but not intellectually. Nothing, since the Greeks, has
been found to approach their doctrine of Wisdom in
perspicuity, grace of utterance, and scientific exphca-
tion of the divine source. Of all the successors on the
same road, none have exceeded their authority, and
very few have attained to the perfect veracity and
ideality of their ground ; but of this hereafter. Nu-
merous works on Alchemy have issued from the
German press, detailing the experience of excellent
and learned adepts ; amongst those of later years,
' See Bohme's Works, edited by Law and others, 4 vols. Ito.
Preliminary Account. 55
may be mentioned Ambrose and Phillip Miiller ; ^ Her-
man Fichtuld;^ and his friend George Von Welling;^
J, Crollius ; '^ the Van Helmonts, father and son ; ^
Grasseus, the reputed author of the Water Stone,^ a
personal friend of Bohme's ; Henry K«iinrath, a
pious and learned adeptist ; '' Andrew Libavius ; ^
J. J. Beccher;^ and J. Tollius, a Dutchman, and
an elegant classical expositor on the same ground. ^^
Faber, also ; ^^ but of all those who have connected
ancient fable with philosophy, and explained them by / •
the Hermetic key, Michael Ma/ er ranks first ; and his ^ ^
works are more esteemed and sought after, even in the
present day, than is easily accountable, since he is pro-
foundly guarded in his revelations.^^ Highly curious
engravings and woodcuts adorn the w^orks of these
authors, and even the title-pages of many of them
convey more idea and food for reflection, than other
^ Philippi MuUeri Miracula et Mysteria Medico- Cheinica,
Wirtemburg, 1656. Amb. Miiller's Paradeis-Spiegel, Launen-
burg, 1704.
2 Probier Steiu, Prancf. 1740.
^ Opus Mago-Cabbalist. &c., Prancf. 1760.
** Crollius, Philosopby Reformed, &c., trans, by Pinnel, Lon-
don, 1657.
^ Van Helmont de Ortu Medicinse has been translated under
the title of Oreatrike, or Physic Eeformed. J. B. V. Hehnout,
Paradoxes.
" Das "Wasser-Stein des "Weissens, is translated into English
and into Latin in the Musaeum Hermeticum ; Area Arcano,
Lillium inter Spinas, &c., by the same Author, are in the collec-
tion of Manget.
' Amphitheat. Sapientise Eternae, in fol. 1608. Magnesia Ca-
thoiica, &c.
** And. Libavius, Opera Omnia Medica, in fol. 2 vols. A pon-
derous compilation.
^ Physica Subterrauea, Lips. 8vo. Idem, ffidipus Chemicus
Aperius Mysteria, &c. Prancf. 1664. Idem, Laboratorium Chi-
micum, Prancf. 1680.
^^ Tollii Portuita, Amst. 1687. Manuductio ad Caelum Chemi-
cum, 1688. Sapientia Insanies, sive Promissa Chemica.
^1 Opera Medico-Chimica, 2 vols. 4to. Prancf. 1652. /
^^ Symbola Aur/ae Menste. Idem, Ulysses. Idem, Septimana "^/
Philosophica, I'are ; Arcana Arcanissima,h. e. Hieroglyphica ^gyp-
tiaca Grseca, rare ; Atalanta Pugiens, sive Scrutineum Chemicum
Emblemata, Themis Aurea, Yiatorium, &c. &c.
<\.LA^
56 Exoteric View.
modern tomes, oftentimes throughout the whole of
their development.
The Novum Lumtn Chemicum, which passes under
the name of Michael Sendivogius, the Pohsh adept, is
one of the best known and popular of modern works
on the subject. It has been translated into English,
by John French, also a practitioner;^ whose introduc-
tory preface is bold and striking, and was published
in London under the title of The New Light of Al-
cheiny, with the nine books of Paracelsus, Dc Natura
Renim, in 1650. This New Light, professedly drawn
from the fountain of nature, and grounded in manual
experience, is cleverly handled, and of an attractive
character ; though in consequence of the wilful dis-
order and perplexity of the composition, repeated pe-
rusal and a certain knowledge are requisite, in order to
gather its recondite drift; and so much the more, as
its theory and asserted facts are at variance with our
common conceptions and experience of the possibility
of nature. The French edition of this work, also, has
been translated by Digby, and contains, besides the
Treatise on Salt omitted in the above, other curious
additions, with a concluding Dialogue, which is instruc-
tive.^
There is a multitude of little English books on
alchemy afloat on the book -stalls ; amongst them some
original, well -written and worthy of perusal; for al-
though Britain has not been so fertile in adepts as
France and Germany, yet her scarce ones have been
great ; the profundity and comparative candour of their
writings, being very generally acknowledged by their
foreign compeers ; to which Dafresnoy, though him-
self a sceptic, in his Histoire Hevmetique bears this
characteristic witness. — D'ailleurs on ne scauroit dis-
convenir que les Anglois n'ecrivent sur la science her-
metique avec beaucoup de lumiere et de profondeur.
lis y font paroitre leur jugement et leur esprit de re-
^ See French's Art of Distillatiou.
- Seiidivogius's New Light of Alchemy, hv John Digby, Lon-
don, 1722.
Preliminary Account. 57
flexion. II seroit a souhaiter qu'ils portassent la
meme attention et la meine maturite a tout ce qu'ils
entreprennent, on seroit beaucoup plus content d'eux
et ils ne s'exposerait pas a perdre I'estime des autres
nations comme ils s'y risquent tous les jours. ^
This piece of flattering French testimony refers, we
suppose, to the writings of our early adepts ; other-
wise, of all that have flourished in latter times, the
most celebrated and facile pr biceps, is that Anony- /
mous who styles himself Eiren^us Philalethes : the ^26/
many works that have appeared under this signa-
ture indicate so excellent and perfect an artist, that
his brethren, always speaking with admiration, unani-
mously award him the garland. Yet of himself, his
name, and habits of hfe nothing is known ; no cotem-
porary mentions him ; Starlvy, indeed, professes to
have been his servant once for a time in America, and
to have assisted him in the art ; and describes him as
an English gentleman of an ancient and honourable
family then living on his own estate and rarely
learned. — I saw, says he, in my master's possession the
White and Red elixir in very large quantity ; he gave
me upwards of two ounces of the White medicine of
sufficient virtue to convert 120,000 times its weight
into the purest silver : with this treasure I went to
work ignorantly and was caught in the trap of my
own covetousness, for I expended or wasted nearly
all this tincture, and did not know its value until it
was nearly gone. However, I made projection of a
part, and have tinged many hundreds of ounces by it
into the best silver: of a pound of mercury I have
made within less than a scruple of a pound of silver, /
&c.^ It is also reported, that Eiren^us was intimate ' /P^f
with the chemist Boyle ; but the rumours are all un-
certain, and, as if to increase the mystery, he has been
confounded with other English adepts, as Harprecht
and Thomas Vaughan, and his writings also with
those of Sendivogius, who has been identitied with
^ Vol. i, page MS.
- See Starky's Pyroiecliny Asserted.
58 Exoteric View.
him under the name of Alexander Sethon and others.
He himself informs us that he was born in England,
somewhere towards the beginning of the 1 7th century,
that he possessed the secret at a ver}-^ early age, and
was the victim of unremitting persecution. His prin-
cipal works are, An Open Entrance to the Shut
Palace of the King, Ripley Revived, The__Mar-
y/ row of Alchemy, in verse ; Metal lor iini Metamor-
phoses, Brevis Manuductio ad Rubinum Ca'lestum, Fons
ChemiccE Veritatis, and a few others in the MuscEum
Her)neticntn and in Manget's collection.
Thomas Vaughan, whose pseudonym^ of Eugenius
Philalethes has, notwithstanding the 'very obvious
distinction of his mind and style, caused him to be
confounded with the foregoing Eireneus, was the au-
thor of several luminous little treatises, bearing on the
higher grounds of this mystic science, full of ideas
and the recondite spirit of antiquity. In these Vaughan
makes casual reference to the gold-making possibihty,
but is at little pains to attract in this direction, or
indicate, as is usual, any sophistic order of practical
operation ; and thus repelling impertinent inquiry,
he leads at once to the true and only valuable
speculation of the subject. Moreover, unless we be
mistaken, the one Art and medium of vital perfect-
ibility is more clearly shown in his writings than in
those of any other English author. They are as fol-
low: Magia Adamica, or The Antiquity of Magic ;
whereto is added, A Discovery of the Caelum Teme,
or Magician's Heavenly Chaos; Aiithrojwsopliia
Theomagica, a discourse on the nature of man
grounded on the protochemistry of Hermes, and veri-
fied by a practical examination of principles ; Anima
Magia Abscondita, a discourse of the universal spirit
of nature, with its strange, abstruse, and miraculous
ascent and descent ; Euphrates, or Waters of the
East, a practical discourse of that secret fountain
whose water flows from Are ; Lumen de Lumine, a
new nragical light discovered and consummated, with
an allegorical display of the tirst matter, and other va-
(flf(d^t7i-^ " ^-< ^.A''-^ ^.^^- -J^^^-y ^ U^^^y
Preliminary Account. 59
luable magnetical introductions and guides. This au-
tlior's death is reported to have befallen extraordinarily,
something after the manner of the poet Virgils, and
from an overdose of the elixir; nor should it appear won-
derful, as the narrative runs, that the subtle light of life
should in these instances have been swallowed up in the
superior attraction of a greater flame. Agrippa gives
a similar account of the death of Alexander the Great,
we know not on what authority, saying that he died
suddenly by the hand of his preceptor, adimnister'mg
the venom of the ivattrs of Styx, to whom the youthful
monarch had previously intrusted his life, body and
soul, without reservation.^
The Authors we have brought forward as distin-
guished and genuine, are but few in comparison with
the whole number ; some reckon as many as four
thousand ;^ but there are enough without forcing any
into the ranks. Borrichius, from standing testimony,
counts as many as two thousand five hundred.^
L'Englet Dufresnoy has reduced the number still
more, but then he was ignorant of the subject and
excludes according to titles, rather than the matter,
of several books covertly treating of the Hermetic art.'^
The Bodleian library contains many hundred volumes
by separate authors. The Royal Library of France
was reputed still richer in 1742, especially in manu-
scripts ; and the Vatican and Escurial have large and
valuable collections in the same branch.
And it is in these archives alone that the ancient Art
is now preserved, in which we hoard the memory of
long bygone hopes. To declare a man an Alchemist
in the present day would be to brand him as insane,
and the Hermetic ground is as far out of the road of
common thought as if it were tabooed ; not indeed that
any one regards it as sacred, but devilish rather, or
^ Yauity of the Sciences, c. 54;.
2 Petri Borelli Bibliot. Chem. Paris, 1656.
•^ De Ortu et Progressu Cliimise.
'* Histoire Hermetique, torn. iii. accompagnee d'une Catalogue
Kaisonnee des Ecrivains de cette Science, Paris, 1762.
60 Exoteric View.
delirious, or ridiculous, as the bias may be. Mean-
while, therefore, to reconcile this science or the teach-
ers of it to the world, we should feel to be a task
above our ability, were it very far greater than it is ;
the prejudice having grown so old and strong that
neither reason nor authority is longer able to balance
it. But in whatever light we be disposed to regard
Alchemy, whether as the acme of human folly, or, con-
trariwise, as the recondite perfection of wisdom and
causal science, it appears almost equally remarkable :
considered in the former way, we have before us a
huge monument of avarice, mad credulity, and fraud
accumulating on continually from immemorial time,
with the deplorable conclusion, that the greater part
of those to whom the world has been taught to look
up as philosophical authorities were in fact dupes and
worse deceivers ; on the other hand, if we hesitate in
thus denouncing all the many well-approved and reli-
gious professors of this art, and suppose them, even in
this particular, to have been sincere, what then ought
we to conclude? That they were deluded ? It is true
their assertions are startling, their promises huge and
improbable, but then the means of realization proposed
are actual ; the transmutation of metallic bodies was a
proof addressed to the senses and so uniformly stated
as to preclude subterfuge or any medium fulfilment.
— I have seen the Stone and handled it, says Van
Helmont, and have projected the fourth part of one
grain, wrapped in paper, upon eight ounces of quick-
silver boiling in a crucible, and the quicksilver, with a
small voice, presently stood still from its flux, and
was congealed like to yellow wax; and after a flux by
blast we found eight ounces all but eleven grains which
were w^anting of the purest gold ; therefore, one grain
of this powder would transmute 1918G parts of quick-
silver into the best gold. I am constrained to be-
lieve, for I have made projections divers times of one
grain of the philosopher's gold upon some thousands
of grains of boiling quicksilver, to the admiration and
tickling of a great multitude. He who gave me that
Preliminary Account. 61
powder (the stranger Butler, whom he first found in
prison) had so much as would transmute two hundred
thousand pounds' worth of gold.^ Our tincture of
gold, says Paracelsus, has within it an astral fire
w^hich conquers ail things and changes them into a
nature like to itself ; it is a most fixed substance and
immutable in the multiplication ; it is a powder having
the reddest colour, almost like saflfron, yet the whole
corporeal substance is liquid like resin, transparent like
crystal, frangible like glass. It is of a ruby colour of
the greatest weight ; and this is a true sign of the
tincture of philosophers, that by its transmuting force
all imperfect metals are changed, and this gold is bet-
ter than the gold of the mines ; and out of it may be
prepared better medicines and arcana.^ So likewise
Friar Bacon says, and Lully, and Arnold in his Spe-
culum, that he had seen and touched, after much
labour and industry, the perfect thing transmuting.^
And Geber in these words: — The things are manifest
in which the verity of the work is nigh, and we have
considered the things perfecting this work by a true
investigation, with certain experience, whereby we are
assured that all the words are true which are by us writ-
ten in our volumes, according as w^e found them by ex-
periment and reason.^ And again, — By the goodness
of God's instigation and by our own incessant labour,
we have searched out and found, and have seen with
our eyes and handled with our hands the complete-
ment of matters sought after in our magistery.^
And Picus di Mirandola, in his book De Auro : —
I come now, says the prince, to relate what my eyes
have seen plainly without veil or obscurity ; one of
my friends, who is now living, has made gold and sil-
ver above sixty several times in my own presence, and
1 have seen it and done it myself.®
1 Book of Eternal Life, Ortixs. Med. fol. p. 590, &e.
2 Signatura Eerum, fol. page 358.
^ Speculum Alchimige, sub initio, Theat. Chem. vol. iv. p. 515.
^ Epilogue to the Investigation of Verity, Eussel's Geber, p. 20.
'"' Idem, book i. page 215.
^ Picus Mirandolee de Auro, lib. iii. cap. 2.
62 Exoteric View.
We do not adduce these testimonials in proof either
of the truth or plausibiHty of the Hermetic art ; but
to lead on inquiry, without which it would be equally
vain to believe as to deny ; and further, to show the
pretension was not ambiguous, but absolutely prove-
able, if at all, we have the story of the transmutation
before Gustavus Adolphus in the year 1620, the gold
of which was coined into medals, bearing the king's
effigy with the reverse. Mercury and Venus ; and that
other at Berlin, before the king of Prussia, widely cele-
brated in 1710.' The story related by Kircher in his
Mundus Suhttrraneus also is explicit, and that of Hel-
vetius ; but the foregoing, taken casually, may be suffi-
cient to indicate that the evidence of Alchemy was
neither abstract nor hidden, nor
vaguely opinable,
But clean, experimental and determinable : —
and that if there was deception at all, it must have
been wilful and not the offspring of self-delusion on
the part of the adepts. And then what should induce
men to invent, age after age, and to reiterate and con-
firm a shameful and unpopular falsehood ? — pious her-
mits and ecclesiastics, physicians and metaphysicians,
men of high rank and reputation, far above and out of
the way of sordid allurements, most of whom had in
fact relinquished station, power, wealth, and worldly
benefices for the science' sake and the cause of true
religion? What interest should have moved them,
even supposing minds so degraded as to deceive so far
and frequently their fellow-men ? Or shall we con-
clude that Ripley either was so mad and simple a
knave as to write the offer to his king to show him
the actual working of the Stone, if he had possessed
nothing ? but he even promises to unfold the whole
confection conditionedly. Would he so far have ven-
tured, or what motive had he to deceive?
' See Eorricliius de Ortu et Progressu, the full account ; and
Dufresnoy, Hist. Herm. vol. ii.
Preliminary Account. 63
Never trewly for merke nor for pounde
Make yt I common ; bnt to you conditioneclly
That to yourself ye shall keep yt secretly ;
And only yt use, as may be God's pleasure,
Els in tyme comynge of God I shoulde abye
For my discoveringe of hys secrett treasurye.^
And if the notion of wilful deceit is improbable ;
then, their problem being one of tangible facts, it is
still less likely that they were themselves deceived. —
I write not fables, says H. K^nrath, in his Amphi-
theater; with thine own hands thou shalt handle and
with thine own eyes thou shalt see Azoth, viz., the Uni-
versal Mercury, which alone with its internal and exter-
nal fire is sufficient for thee; wdiich transforms itself into
what it will by the fire. And again, — I have travelled
much and visited those esteemed to know somewhat
by experience and not in vain, amongst whom, I call
God to witness, I got of one the universal tincture,
and the blood of the Lion, which is the gold of philo-
sophers. I have seen it, touched it, tasted it, smelt it,
and used it efficaciously towards my poor neighbours
in most desperate cases. Oh, how wonderful is God in
his works ! ^
The liberal mind natm'ally experiences a difficulty
in disbelieving where, a possibility being granted, the
testimony in support of a matter is fair and honour-
able. And though sensible evidence and more than
this sometimes is required to silence negative assertion ;
yet reason, supported by her witnesses, may enervate
it, and induce that strict investigation and thought
which should always precede experiment, but which
the multitude have never yet been found willing to
undertake ; and are consequently led astray in progress,
and learn as it were by chance. It is said that Lord
Bacon instituted certain experiments with a view to the
discovery of the philosopher's stone, and in iheAdvance-
ment of Learning he faithfully recognises the possibility,
as does also Sir Isaac Newton in his works ; while Leibnitz
^ Sir George Eipley's Epistle to King Edward IV., v. 5.
2 Amphitheatrum Sapientiae Eternse, circa fineni.
X-^-co-/
64 Exoteric View.
devoted his early life to the pursuit : nor did either
of these great men, though they were practically un-
successful themselves, condemn the ancient tradition
or deny its validity. Yet it would seem to be more
ordinarily natural to the human mind to reject those
things, which it has neither been early imbued in the
belief of, nor instructed to understand ; besides indivi-
dual research into mere possibilities, and because facts
only are alleged, is too hopeless and arduous for this
short life, which requires a definite assurance of suc-
cess, and fruit even from the smallest labour. And
this is the world's palliation for despising Alchemy, and
many things which the ancients have asserted in like
manner, without the requisite means of realization.
For they would not, nor have they anywhere declared
openly even the common Subject of their Art ; but
left mankind to imagine, as they did, all that was
erroneous concerning it, as of their salts, sulphurs, mer-
curies, magic elements, and occult confections. What
a chaos of metaphor and monstrous allusion does not
the literature of Alchemy at first view present ! With
what fantastic images and inconclusive positions is it
not replete — signs, symbolisms, and subtle enigmas
innumerable, as if to try the ingenuity at every point?
Contrary to the usual endeavour of writers to enlighten,
by rendering their ideas intelligible, the adepts appear
to have had a directly contrary aim, at least so it would
occur to any one from a cursory survey ; now leading
along by some ingenious allegory, full of deep and
exciting suggestions, yet withal enveloped in a mys-
tery so obscure that without more light, it were im-
possible to penetrate it ; then, further to seduce, add-
ing, it may be, another gleam of argument, tantalizing
the hope and wearying the understanding with un-
equal assertions, until all passes away again, with all
possibility of discernment, behind some clouded me-
taphor or word of warning that the secret of ages
may not be profaned. A variety of artifices according
to the cabalistic method, moreover, have been em-
ployed, and the Hermetic discourses are not unfile-
Preliminary Account. 65
quently found introverted in their order, and dis-
persed with repetitions, to prevent the truth from
becoming opeidy obvious, even to those who had'
ah'eady become possessed of the true key ; but only
of the vestibule and entrance rights ;
If you consider bow the partes of the werkes
Be out of order set by the old clerkes,
As I said before, the masters of this arte,
Every and eacli of them disclosed but a parte ;
Wherefore tho' ye perceived tliem as ye woulde,
Yet ye cannot order or joine them as ye shoulde.^
For is not our art cabahstical, asks A±te&is, and LOite^
full of mysteries? And you, fool, believe we teach the ""^
secret of secrets openly, and understand our words
according to the letter ; be assured, we are not en-
vious, but he that takes the philosopher's sayings
according to the outward sense and signification has
already lost the clue of Ariadne, and wanders up and
down the labyrinth, and it would be of the same
benefit to him as if he had thrown his money into
the sea.^ And Sendivogius, to the same effect in the
Preface to the Twelve Treatises, — I would, says he, have
the candid reader be admonished that he understand
my writings, not so much from the outside of my
words as fi'om the possibility of nature ; let him con-
sider that this Art is for the wise, not for the ignorant ;
and that the sense of philosophers is of another na-
ture than to be understood by vaporing Thrasoes, or
letter learned scoffers, or vicious, against their own con-
sciences ; or ignorant mountebanks, who, most un-
worthily defaming the most commendable art of Al-
chemy, have with theirWhites and Reds deceived almost
the whole world. ^ And again, in the Epilogue, — All
things indeed, says the adept, might have been com-
prehended in a few lines ; but we are willing to guide
into the knowledge of nature indirectly, by reasons
^ Norton's Ordinal, cap. ii.
- Phil. Antiquis. Tract. Secret.
•'' See New Light of Alchemy, Preface.
66 Exoteric View.
and examples : that thou mayest know what the thing
truly is thou shouldest seek after, also that thou
mightest have nature, herhghtand shadow, discovered
to thee. Be not displeased if thou meetest sometimes
with contradictions in my treatises, it being the custom
of philosophers to use them ; thou hast need of them :
if thou understandest them, thou shalt not find a rose
without prickles.^
Each artist striving yt how to conceal
Lest wretched caitifs shulde the treasure steal.
Nor vyllains shulde their vyllanyes maintain
By tliis rare art ; whych danger they to heal
In horrid metaphors veyled are an art most plain,
Lest each fool knoAving yt shulde yt when known disdayne.-
And Roger Bacon advises, therefore, to leave oft'
experiments until the ground of wisdom is properly
conceived. — And though I say, take this, and this,
believe me not (says he) but operate according to the
blood; i. e., according to the understanding, and so of
all ; leave off" experiments, apprehend my meaning,
and you will find, believe me, being a lighted candle.'*
And Basil Valentine and Eireneus, and most adepts in
short, warn their readers against running into the
practice upon vague premises, and before they have
attained to a full understanding of the matter to be
taken in hand ; yet, notwithstanding all their injunc*^
^ tions, many seekers, and faithful ones too, have been
c\j^ i/£x^ci<As\Q^ astray: Geber's receipts wsii Basil's^ though at
variance with all common-sense probability, have been
the means of surrounding many a literal soul with
stills, coals, and furnaces, in hope by such lifeless in-
struments to sublime the Spirit of nature; or by salt,
sulphur, and mercury, or the three combined with an-
timony, to extract the Form of gold. But they who
have thus fallen to practise, without the true Light or
heeding their injunctions, had no right to charge their
error on the adepts. The disappointment and misery of
' Epilogue to the Twelve Treatises.
2 Eipley's Fiftli Gate.
^ De Arte Alchemica. p. 315, &c.
Preliminary Account. 67
those fanatical chemists having been attributable to their
own misunderstanding bias, and more frequently owing
to the deceit of sophists than to the genuine tradition
of Hermetic science.
Since difficulties however are apparent, and the pre-
tenders to the Art were in latter times far more nu-
merous than the true adepts, and the literature has
suffered in consequence grievous disgrace and spolia-
tion, it is not surprising that the public, having been so
long and grossly deluded, should at length have shut
out Alchemy from amongst its credenda. If there was
no desire to search deeper, it was wisely done, and
checked the raging of a sore distemper. But that
many have fallen into error and suffered, or others
proved deceivers, or that the world has chosen to dis-
believe, are no proofs in philosophy, even if it were
without so many witnesses, that the Hermetic mystery
is groundless. The world is fully as ignorant of the
genuine doctrine and Art of Wisdom as were the im-
postors whom it repudiated, and their judgment con-
cerning it is of as little value. The words of the
philosophers remain, though modern science is not
able to confirm them, or present anything analogous
to the powers they professed, not in the advancement
of the mineral kingdom only, but over all nature.
And since they unanimously recommend a studious
examination, in order to conceive rightly of the pro-
mises held out, before attempting to judge them or
the pretensions of their Art, we propose to investigate
preliminarily the theoretic ground and matter on
which the physical possibility of transmutation rests.
G8 Exoteric View.
CHAPTER II.
Of the Theory of Transmutation in general, and of the
Universal Matter.
Est in Mercuric quicqiiid quaerunt Sapientes. — Turba Exercif. 1.
THE theory of Alchemy, though arcane, is very sim-
ple ; its basis indeed may be comprehended in
that only statement of Arnold di Villanova, in his
Specif Unit, — 77?^^ there abides in nature a cet^tain pure
matter, which, being discovered and brought by art to
perfection, cotwerts to itself proportionally all imperfect
bodies that it touches.
And this would seem to be the true ground of me-
talline transmutation, and of every other ; namely,
the homogeneity of the radical substance of things ;
and on the alleged fact that metals, minerals, and all
diversified natures, being of the same created first prin-
ciples, may be reduced into their common basis or
mercurial first matter, the whole Hermetic doctrine
appears to hinge and to proceed.
The multiform body of the world hes open, but the
source is everywhere occult ; nor does ordinary ana-
lysis at all discover this Universal Matter of the adepts.
It has been accordingly objected, that natural species
cannot be transmutable, because the transmutation of
different species one into another necessarily implies
mixtion and a spurious offspring : thus, that if it were
even admitted possible by any means to infuse gold
into lead or other inferior form, it would still remain
imperfect, and the better species be defiled by the vile
admixture ; that the result would not in fact be gold
at all, but a middle nature, according to the propor-
tionate virtue of the metals conjoining, golden or
leaden, or as the case might be. Since species are in-
Theory of Transmutation. 69
destructible, therefore, the transmutation of metals
has been regarded as a sophistical proposition and not
a true art.
And this argument the alchemists also admitting,
have sometimes seemed to contradict themselves and
their science ; but such is not really the case, and only
from want of understanding them has it been supposed
so. It is not species that they profess to transmute ;
nor do they ever teach in theory that lead as lead, or
mercury as mercury specificate, can be changed into
gold, any more than a dog into a horse, a tulip into a
daisy, or vice versa, in this way, anything of unlike
kind ; but it is the subject-matter of these metals, the
radical moisture of which they are uniformly com-
posed, that they say may be withdrawn by art and
transported from inferior Forms, being set free by the
force of a superior ferment or attraction.
Species, says Friar Bacon, are not transmuted,
but their subject-matter rather, — Species non trans-
muta|;ur, sed subjecta specierum optime et propriis-
sime : — therefore the first work is to reduce the body
into water, that is, into mercury, and this is called So-
lution, which is the foundation of the whole art.^
And the first preparation and foundation of the Her-
metic art, says the author of the Rosarium, is Solu-
tion and a reduction of the body into water, which is
argent vive : for it is well known to artists that
species cannot, as themselves, be transmuted, since
they are not liable to sensible action and corruption ;
but the Subjects of species rather, since they are cor-
ruptible and may be changed : yet neither can the
Subjects of species be transmuted, unless they are
reduced first into their original matter, and made free
to pass from one into another form. But this is not
contrary to reason, because one form being expelled,
another may be introduced, as is evident in rustic
operations — as in the making of glass from flints,
stones, and ashes : much more then should the ex-
1 See llogeri Bachonis Eadix Muudi et Speculum Alchemiiip.
70 Exoteric View.
perienced philosopher be able to corrupt the Subject-
matter of natures and to introduce a new Form.'
Arnold, also admitting that species are indestructible,
advises therefore that the Subject be freed by an arti-
ficial reduction.^ Sj)ecies non transmutari sed indi-
vidua specierum.^ And Avicenna,* and Aristotle,^
who is also quoted from by Ripley.
As the Pliilosoplier wlio iu the Book of INIeteors did wryte,
That the lykeness of bodyes inetallyue be uot trausniutable,
But aftorvvai'db he added theis words of more delyte,
IJ'ithout they he reduced to their beyinnyng muteriahle ;
Wlierefore such bodies as iu uature be liquable
IMiueral aud metalliue may be mercurizate,
Couceive ye may theis scieuce is not opiuable,
But very true by liaymoud and others determinate.*^
When therefore Lully, speaking of the Art, declares
/ that species are absolute and cannot be changed one
f-C^ ^ Adverte carissimj^ quod qua) sequuutur verissima sunt intelli-
gentibus. Prima prepanitio et fundameutum artis est solutio, id
est corporis in aquam, reductio hoc est in ai-gentum vivum. . . .
Sciant artifices alchemia? species metallorum vere pennutari non
posse, quod quidem verum est, quia species per se non sunt sub-
jecta actiouibus seusibilibus, cum omnino incorruptibiles ; sed
subjecta specierum optim^ pennutari possunt quoniam corrup-
/ tabiiia sunt : attamen subjecta specierum permutari non possunt
/7W nisi ipsa prius ad primam reduca^ur materiam et sic in aliam
formam quam prius eraut permutantur. Contra hoc autem ratio
non stat, quia destructa una forma immediate introducitur alia, ut
patet iu operibus rusticorum, qui de kipidibus faciunt calcem et de
cineribus \dtrum. Sic multo fortius potest sapiens studiosus in-
r dividua speciei corrumpere et novam formam eis introdueere.
— Eosar. Abbrev. Tract, ii. Do Lapide in Theat. Cliem. vol. iii.
2 Species metallorum transmutari non possunt : et hoc verum
est ut ipsi asseruut, nisi ad primam materiam redigantur. Ee-
ductio aufem illorum ad primam materiam est facilis, &c. — Liber
Perfect. Magist., sub initio.
^ Speculum Alchymia; Aruoldi, Octava Dispositio. See also, in
Eosario, lib. i. cap. ix Quid sit opus physicum ; also Clangor Bue-
cinse, Tractatus uiirabilis, de Luiia Philoso})hicaEnigmata Diversa.
^6j2.C c^S ■* Sciaut Artifices zVlchimis^sive formas luetallorum vere trans-
/ mutari non posse nisi in primam materiam et sic in aliud quam
prius pcrmutentur. — Lib.ii. Tractat.i.cap.iv. DeOperat.lNled.Sing.
^ Metalla autem omnia, ut ad rem redeaui, hunt ex una
eademque materiam, A;c., before quoted, page 14. — Meteor, lib. iii.
cap. XV.
^ Epistle to Kiug Edwai-d, stanza 10.
Theory of Transmutation. 71
into another, — Elementiva habent vera conditiones et
una species se non transmutet in alivlm/ — we shall t Ct
not understand him as denying the art by any means, /
but a false position of it only ; the fundamental possi-
bility and principle of transmutation being not of spe-
cies, but of their Universal Subject or first matter.
And this Universal Subject is the alleged foundation
of the whole Hermetic experiment ; not only the thing
transmutable in natures, as is above shown, but the
thing transmuting also, when set free and segregated
in its proper essentiality, the fermented Spirit assimi-
lates the Light throughout. — Trust not, says the
adept, those impostors who tell you of a sulvhur
thigcus, and I know not what fables ; who pin also
the narrow name of Cliemia on a science ancient and
infinite. It is the Light only that can be truly multi-
plied, for this ascends and descends from the first
fountain of multiplication and generation. This Light
(discovered and perfected by art) applied to any body,
exalts and perfects it in its own kind: if to animals,
it exalts animals ; if to vegetables, vegetables ; if to
minerals, it refines minerals, and translates them from
the worst to the best condition ; where, note by the
way, that every body hath passive principles in itself
for this Light to work upon, and therefore needs not
to borrow any from gold or silver.^
This last advice is given to correct a common
error, that the alchemists extracted the Form out
of these metals to transmute and increase with.
Gross misconception of their initial principle has
indeed caused their positions frequently to appear
ridiculous ; as of the common talk, for instance, of
weighing and proportioning the elements so exactly
as to constitute them into lasting accord ; of con-
solidating the metalline vapour by heat artificially
introduced, or by the rays of the sun and moon
drawn to simultaneous co-operation, and several
1 De Arte jNIagua, part ix.
- oee Vaughan'vS Anima Magia Abscondita, page 30.
72 Exoteric View.
such-like literally imputed follies, far from their
uiiiids, who protested against such misunderstanding,
having assumed to themselves another principle and
another method of generating metals, by which they
were enabled to follow nature independently, and help
her to exceed the ordinary limits of her law : not by
the condensation of imaginary vapours in the mines,
or by the assistance of the great luminary or lunar
light, but by working, as it is said, the only universal
living and occult nature by and through itself,
scientifically, w hich contains within itself the true ori-
ginal of all these, even of the whole manifested exist-
ence. ^J'hus, w^e read, in the Lucenia Sails,
A certain tiling is found in tlic world
Which is also in every thing and in every place.
It is not earth, nor fire, nor air, nor water,
Albeit it wants neither of these things,
Nay it can become to be fire, air, water, and earth ;
For it contains all nature in itself purely and sincerely ;
It becomes white and red, is hot and cold,
It is moist and dry and is diversifiable every way.
The band of Sages only have known it,
And they call it tlieir salt.
It is extracted from their earth ;
And has been the ruin of many a fool ;
Eor tlie common earth is worth nothing here,
Nor the vulgar salt in any manner,
But rather the salt of the woi'ld,
"Which contains in itself all Lif(> :
Of it is made that medicine which will preserve you from
all maladies.'
The Stone is one, says the monk in his Rosary ; the
medicine is one, in which the whole mystery consists,
to which we add nothing nor take away anything,
only in the preparation, removing superfluities.^— All
is made of Mercury, says Geber ; for when Sol is re-
duced to his first original, i.e., the mercury, then
nature embraceth nature, and by open and manifest
[)roof we have concluded that our Stone is no other
' Lucerna Salis, from tlie Latin verse, p. loO.
^ Kosar, Abbrcv. Tract, iii. and v.
Theory of Transmutation. 73
than a foetent spirit and living water, which we have
named dry water, by natural proportion cleansed and
united with such union, that they can never more be
absent each fi'om other.' And Aquinas says, — It is
Mercury alone which perfects in our work, and we find
in it all we have need of; nothing different must be
added. Some, mistaking, believe that the work can-
not be perfected with mercury alone without his sister
or companion ; but I do assure thee that working with
mercury and his sister (/. e., as agent and patient) that
thou addest nothing different from mercury ; and
know also that gold and silver arc not unlike in kind
to this our Mercury ; for it is their root : if thou work-
est therefore with Mercury alone, without foreign in-
tervention, thou obtainest thy desire.^ The White
and the Red proceed from one root, for it dissolves and
coagulates itself — whitens, rubifies, and makes itself to
be both yellow and black ; it unites with itself, con-
ceives itself, and brings itself forth, to the full per-
fecting of its intention.^
It is only in her manifold changes that nature is
known and made apparent in ordinary life ; but, since
these alchemists profess to have enjoyed another expe-
rience, and through their Art to have discovered her
in her simple essentiality, to be that total which works
all conditionedly throughout existence, it will there-
fore be requisite to consider their w^iole doctrine with
reference to this presumed unity, and by no means be
led aside by their metaphoric language into a common
misconstruction of its meaning ; but since, according
to the old maxim, AU is in Altrcury which the ivise men
seek, let us seek therefore if we may be able at all to
identify this mercury, and whether the same ancient
material be yet on earth.
It is well known, that the Greeks and eastern sages
derived all things in common from a certain pure and , /
hidden fire ; Stoics, Pythagoreans, Platonie*, and Pe- />?^
ripatetics vie with each other in celebrating the occult
' Invest, of Perl. cap. xi.
2 Eosar. Abbrev. Tract, iii. and v.
/
74 Exoteric View.
virtues of the Ether ; its all-pervading essence and
perfective power : in it they place the providential re-
gulation of nature ; it was the very life and substance
of their theosophy, in which from the highest to the
lowest confines of existence, from Jove to the last
link in the infernal monarchy, all were inhabiting the
etherial world ; for, as Virgil says, it lights and nou-
rishes the innermost earth as well as the air and starry
heavens.
Priucipio coelum, ac terras, composque liquentcs,
Lucentemque globum Luna?, Titauiaque astra,
^y^ Spiritus inter alit ; totanique infusa per ai'tus
Mens agitat molem, et magno se corpore miscet.^
And the assertions of the Ethnics, about the Anima
Mundi, vary little or nothing in substance from the
Hebrew doctrine, but in words only ; neither are their
opinions so heinous or ridiculous as the zealous policy
of ignorance, under a Christian guise, has too often
caused them to appear. That there is a fluid or vi-
talizing principle invisibly permeating all things, and
resident in the air we breathe, common experience in-
dicates, for life cannot subsist without air, nor in all
kinds of air ; but there is some one quality or ingre-
dient in the atmosphere which is a secret food of life,
and on which it immediately depends ; what this ali-
ment is, though many names have been invented, the
moderns in default of knowledge are not agreed ; and
seeing it escapes the test of their closest vessels and
analyses, and that it can be neither seen, heard, felt,
nor naturally understood, the ancient theory of the One
Element has been very much derided. The chemist,
Homberg, indeed, with Boerhaave, Boyle, and others
eminent of that period, hold with the alchemists, that
there is a distinct substance universally diflused, though
sensible only in its mixed forms and })Owerful efl'ects ;
that it is the alone pure and active source of all things,
and most firm bond of the natural elements, giving life
to all bodies, penetrating and sustaining all things, and
1 .l^uL'id, lib. vi. 7'2L
Theory of Transmutation. 75
enlivening all ; that this mighty Ether moreover is
always at hand, ready to break forth into action on
predisposed subjects ; fermenting, producing, destroy-
ing, and governing the total course of nature. Bishop
Berkeley, too, in his Sir is, contends learnedly in favour
of the same universal material, which he likewise calls
ether, ajid a pure invisible fire — the most subtle and
elastic of all bodies pervading all, and considers that
it is from thence, and not from any mingled pro-
perty, that the air has its power of sustenance and
vitalization.
These then, with a few others, in recent times, have
so far concurred with the ancients in distinguishing the
fontal Spirit of nature, apart from its manifestation,
and as distinct from that elementary ignition with
which we are sensibly familiar ; for they do not allow
that to be fire indeed, but an excitation only or effect
of the antecedent j)otency which they describe. But
then they could adduce no tangible proof of their doc-
trine. The world could not see their invisible fire. It
has therefore been regarded as a mere speculative chi-
mera (which in part it was perhaps, in their minds,
without experience), and, accordingly, disbelieved.
For philosophy, at length, laudibly anxious to prove
all things, yet too idle to theorise, will suppose no-
thing that is not openly shown ; how then should she
recognise that recondite fire ?
Neither are we desirous absolutely to assume it
here ; for though experiments of recent date seem to
supply concurrent evidence, and the phenomena of
Mesmerism have helped to force again on the minds
of the more observing portion of mankind the suppo-
sition of a " New Imponderable," or " 0^-ic Force,"
yet, few believe ; and we pass it now to continue our
research concerning that elder Quintessence of the magi
which they introduce, not as a being of speculation
merely, but of experimental science ; not perceptible
only in mingled forms, in the common air or elementary
water, but as an essence compact and tangible without ^
heterogeneity ; in which pure estate, the Gabalists, ^^y
76 Exoteric View.
also describing, call it, Lumeii Vestimenti, the Vehi-
cle of Light; and the Greeks, eXevdepo^, the Free
Ether, that is to say, freed from the prison of gross
matter, and able to work of itself intimately by the
virtue of its own included light. Thus Zeno defines
it, — Ignem esse artificiosum, ad gignendum progre-
dientem via; — as a plastic fire, ever generating by
/ rule. And Cicero, as that coelestis altissima ivthe-
Ou! reaque natura, id est igne^aquae per se omnia gignat,
/ ' — that most heavenly high etherial igneous nature,
which spontaneously begets all things.^
The light of life ; the \4tal draught
That forms the food of every living thing,
And e'en the high, enthroned, all-sparkling eye
Of ever-mounting fire ; th' immense expanse,
The viewless Ether in his genial arms
Clasping the earth ; Him call thou Lord and Jove.^
It is requisite, however, to distinguish a'lrs here,
lest we speak profanely, calling that Jove which is
not Jove ; and, mistaking Olympus, embrace some
cloud whilst the life-giving Juno is far away above all
our idea and sight. For the goddess is subtilely min-
gled in nature commonly observable in her action only,
as adepts say, and to the world unknown, as we may
observe Lully, amongst others telling us, she is of
another birth, and cannot be brought to knowledge
without sagacious handling and human help. — Imo
argentum vivum nostrum est aqua alterius naturcC,
qute reperiri non potest supra terram, cum in actio-
nem venire non possit per naturam, absque adjutorio
/ ingenii ct humanarum manuum operationibus.^
I Ql H#c vere uullibi est quod qugerimus.
Nowhere ; for the etherial spirit does not subsist of
itself, separate or tangibly on earth ; but, giving sub-
sistence to other things, is occultated even in their
life, and defiled. It is, moreover, an especial doctrine
r* - / • / ^ De Nat. Deor. lib. ii.
.co'\^UO<a(!S 2 iccEtOtSHS. See Blackwell's Letters on Mythology, 12.
' •■' Luliii Theorica et Practiea in Theat. Chem. vol. iv.
Theory of Transmutation. 11
of adepts, that nature operates her ordinary manifes-
tation in direct contrariety to her perfect law ; that, as
darkness and imperfection are now apparent, the true
Light is made occult ; and that neither sanity nor beauty
can permanently supervene in bodies, unless the con-
trary be operated in them ; so that that which is fixed
becoming volatile and the volatile nature fixed, the ad-
ventitious or externally generated image may be con-
stricted utterly, and the central form contrariwise de-
veloped into life and act.
Si fixum solvas faciasque volare solutum
Et volucrem figas, facicnt te vivere tutum :
Solve, CoagLila, Tige.
Thus, it is said that by a real experimental inver-
sion, the Hermetic Art has proved imperfections to be
accidental to nature, and introduced to her from with-
out ; that as water, spread abroad upon a many-co-
loured surface of earth, salts, or spices, takes the hue
and flavour of the spot on which it rests, so it is with
the prolific source of things ; species subsist in it ad-
ventitiously, as it were, by sufferance, and may be ex-
pelled, and ought to be for the attainment of perfec-
tion.— Whoever desires to attain his end, says Arnold,
let him understand the conversion of the elements,
to make light things heavy, and to make spirits no
spirits, then he shall not work in a strange thing.
Converte elementa et quod quseris invenies.^
And if any skilful minister of nature shall apply
force to matter ; and, by design, torture and vex it in
order to its annihilation, says the philosopher ; it, on
the contrary, being brought to this necessity, changes
and transforms itself into a strange variety of shapes
and appearances ; for nothing but the power of the
Creator can annihilate it or truly destroy ; so that,
at length, running through the whole circle of trans-
formations, and completing its period, it in some
degree restores itself, if the force be continued. And
that method of torturing or detaining will prove
* Arnold! Specuhiin, Octava Dispositio, &c.
7S Exoteric View.
the most effectual and expeditious which makes use
of manacles and fetters ; /. e., lays hold and works upon
matter in the extremest degree.^
So much does Lord Bacon assume upon the declara-
tion of Democritus ; our philosopher had in him the
bright light of genius, which enabled him indepen-
dently of experience to conceive well and grapple
with the possibility of nature. His mind glanced
intuitively through and beyond the darkness which
time had cast before the Wisdom of antiquity, and
he discerned her yet beaming afar off with vener-
able splendor in her old domain. Though chained
to the superficies, observing and collecting facts, he
honoured those sages who long before him had ex-
perimented into the centre, and proved there a firm
and immutable foundation of truth ; but thither he
was not able himself to pass, for he knew nothing of
their Great Art, or of its subject even, and naturally
mistook their hidden ground. Had the smallest
glimpse only of this been revealed to him, he would
have imagined all differently, nor ever proposed that
the dissolution of nature should be attempted me-
chanically, or by help of such " particular digesters
applied to the fire," as in the Sylva Si/lvarum he
seriously designs for this end.-
Such instruments do, in fact, expel the very nature
which the ancients prized ; leaving us without all re-
compense in the dead ashes of her consuming vesture;
whereas, the proposal of Democritus is not only to
reduce the matter, with her false forms, to the verge
of annihilation, but to entrap the bare spirit and help
her on from thence to operate her own intrinsical fi'eed
will, which according to this testimony she possesses,
and is able to make manifest, wrapping herself spon-
taneously about it, even to a recreation. But if she
is suffered to depart invisibly without pursuit or
amendment, which is the common catastrophe, then
1 See Bacon, De Sapientia Vetoruni, Fable of Proteus.
'^ See the Sylva Sylvarmn, iu two places ; and the History of
Rarity and Density.
Theory of Transmutation. 79
she is caught up again by other external compellents,
and, becoming defiled, is imprisoned by them and no
better than she was before. The contrariation pro-
posed by the Alchemists, indeed, is not in the power
of ordinary art, any more than of nature herself; but
she passes through death from one form into another,
as in the chemic vessels, without self-discovery, being-
instigated by a most forcible excentric will, which she
has no power but to obey : yet, as the passage runs,
— If any skilful minister shall apply another force, and
by design torture and vex the spirit in order to its
annihilation, it, being brought under this necessity,
transforms and presently restores itself, the force being
continued.
And that magic, says Paracelsus, is the most sin-
gular secret that directed such an entrance into na-
ture ; which, if it were divinely done by God alone, it
would be to no purpose to study for it. But the
Deity doth not make himself especially operative
herein : if that magic then were natural, certainly it
was most wonderful, very excellent for quickness of
penetration and swiftness of separation, the like
whereof nature can neither give nor express. For
whilst that is at work, behold all things fall apart
into their elements, breaking forth into their act and
simple essence. The greatest miracle of all in phi-
losophy is stparalioii : separation was the principle and
beginning of all generation. And as it was in the
great mystery, so it is in the lesser. The truphat, or
matter of the metals, brings everything into its pro-
per kind, distinguishing and separating with wonderful
diligence every thing into its due form.^ — Convert the
elements, says Arnold, and you will find what you
seek ; for our operation is nothing else than a mutation
of natures, and the method of conversion in our Argent
vive is the reduction of natures to their first root.^ —
The elements of Mercury being separated, says Ripley
* To the Athenians, book i. text 9.
2 Speculum Alchimijc, Octava Dispositio.
80 Exoteric View.
and again commixed by equal weight or proportion,
make the chxir complete.'
Now as we are taught from the beginning, that the
whole of the Hermetic theory and practice proceeds
upon the assumption of a certain Universal Being in
nature, which is occult, and since the whole Art there-
fore has respect to this, we may be careful to observe
that in speaking of elements, our authors do not al-
lude to the common elements — as of fire, air, and
water — with wliich we are familiarly conversant, or to
those subtler gases, so called simples of modern Che-
mistrv, all of which are impure and equally irrelevant
to this philosophy ; but the elements they speak of,
as being introverted and transformed are the ele-
ments of the Mercury, properties of the universal
spirit ; in which, and by which alone, they profess to
have operated the perfective miracle of their Stone.
We must not limit, says Paracelsus, an element to
a bodily substance or quality. That which we see
is only the receptacle ; the true element is a spirit of
life, and grows in all things, as the soul in the body of
man. This is the First Matter of tlie elements, which
can neither be seen nor felt, and yet is in all things ;
and the tirst matter of the elements is nothing else
but that life which the creatures have ; and it is these
magical elements which are of such an excellent and
quick activity that nothing besides can be found or
imagined like them.^
Concerning the same, Hermes also advises men to
understand that the knowledge of the four elements of
the ancient philosophers was not corporally or with-
out wisdom sought after, but they are through patience
onlv to be obtained, according to their kind, which
through their owm operation are everywhere in nature
hidden and obscured.^
We do not know whether we have set the position
1 Medulla Alchimiae, cap. i.
2 To the Athenians, book ii. text 2 and 5.
^ Tractatus Aureus, cap. i. prop. 4. See also LuUii Tlieoria et
Practica, c. iii.
Theory of Transmutation. 81
clearly, that the order of natural procedure ought to
be introverted for a true and perfect manifestation ;
the point is subtle, and as it may be more easily ap-
prehended hereafter on more intimate ground, we
leave it for the present to consider especially what that
nature w^as, which the Alchemists profess so to have
revolutionized, in order that gathering their definitions
of the whole, we may be better able afterwards to
conceive the particulars, — Qui| Proteum non novit, ^
adeat Pana.
Fortis subtilis Pan, integer et generalis ;
Et totus ignis, aura, terra, sive aqua,
Qui resides solio cum tempore semper eodem
Medio, supremo et infimo regno tuo.
Concipiens, generaus, produeens, omnia servans,
Exordium rerumque finis omnium.^
Yet not in his elementary immanifest diffusion let
us invoke the most Ancient Nature, but as he was
discovered by the Hermetic masters ; whole, and sin-
gularly, and before any alteration had been induced in
his uniform substance by their art. Thus Albertus
Magnus defines the Mercury of the wise to be a watery
element, cold and moist, a permanent water, an unc-
tuous vapour, and the spirit of body ; and again, — the
first material of the metals is an unctuous subtle hu-
midity, forcibly incorporated with a subtle terres- _/^P.
treity.^ ^rtp.fiiis describes it as a white fume, in sub- (Mite/^/u^u.S
stance like to pure silver, resolving bodies into their
original whiteness ; and as a vegetable life making all
things to grow, multiply, and resuscitate.^ Which
Lully, not dissimilarly viewing, calls Hyle, saying,
I Orpheus llymni — 1.
^ Mercurixis SapientAm est elementum aqueum, frigidum ethu-
midum, aqua permanens, vapor unctuosus et spiritus corporis, &c.
Prima materia metallorum est humidum unctuosum
subtile, quod est incorporatum terrestri subtili fortiter commixto.
— De Mineralibus, cap. ii. et Breve Compendium in Theat. Chem.
vol. ii.
^ See Liber Secretissimus Artefii. Ilia namque aqua fumua
albus est, &c. Est autem aqua ilia media qusedam siibstantise clara ut
argentum purum, qufe debet recipere tincturas solis et lunsB ut
G
82 Exoteric View.
that it is a clear compounded water, most like in
substance to argent vive, that it is found flowing upon
earth, and is generated in every compound out of the
substance of the air, therefore the moisture is ex-
tremely heavy. ^ Seek our Argent Vive, says Ar-
nold, and you will have all you desire from it ; it is
a stone and no stone, in which the whole Art consists,
spirit, soul, and body ; which if thou dissolvest, it will
be dissolved ; and if thou coagulatest, it will be co-
agulated ; and if thou makest it fly, it will fly ; for it
is volatile, and clear as a tear. And afterwards, it is
made citrine, then saltish, but without crystals ; and
no man may touch it with his tongue, for it is a
deadly poison. Behold, I have described it to thee;
but I have not named it, lest it should become com-
mon in the hands of all ; nevertheless, I will in a
manner name it, and tell thee that if thou sayest it is
water, thou dost say truth ; and if thou sayest it is
not water, thou dost lie. Be not therefore deceived
with manifold descriptions and operations, for it is One
Thing to which nothing extraneous may be added. ^
There is another found speaking after the same sense
congeletur ct couvertatur in terrain albam vivarn. . . . Est
quoiiiam aqua ista est aqua vita; vegetabilis, ideo ipsa dat vitain et
facit vegctare crescere et pullulare ipsuni corpus luortuuui et
ipsuni resuscitare de morte ad vitam solutione et sublimatioue et
in tali operatione vei'titur corpus in spirituin, spii'itus in corpus et
tunc factn est amicitia, &c.
^ Ji. Lullii Tlieorica et Practica, cap iii. De Pornia M inori. Est
aqua clara composita ex dictis vaporibus per cond(Misationem suae
naturae, qufe venit iu dictos vapores quatuor eleiuentorum, et ilia
est res ai'gento vivo magis propinqua, quod quidein reperitur supra
terrani currens et fluens, &c.
^ Lapis est et non lapis, spiritus anima et corpus : quern si dis-
solvis, dissolvitur ; et si coagules, coagulatur, et si volare facis,
volat. Est autem volatilis albus ut lacliryina ocidi ; postea efHci-
tur citrinus, salsus, pilis carens, quern nemo lingua sua tangere
potest. Ecee ipsuni jam sua demonstravi descriptione. Non tameii
nominavi, quo omiiis eget locuples et pauper et omiies habere pos-
sunt ; et in uianibus suis est ac pro eo causaiitur. JNIodo volo
ipsuin nomiuare ; et dico quod si dixeris cum aquam esse, veruiii
dicis ; et si dicis cum ai[uam non esse nientiris. Ne igitur deci-
piaris pluribus descriptionibus et operantibus. Unum enim quid
est. oui nihil alieni inlertur. — Speculum Alchimia^, Octava Disp.
Theory of Transmutation. 83
— Belus, in the classic synod of Aristceus ; and this, he
says, among'st all great philosophers is magisterial,
that our stone is no stone ; though with the ignorant
this is ridiculous ; for who will believe that water can
be made a stone, or a stone Wtiter ; nothing being
more different than these two ? Yet, in very truth, it
is so : for this very permanent water is the stone, but
whilst it is water it is no stone. ^ Again ; —
It is a stone and no stone,
In which tlie whole art consists ;
Nature has made it such,
But has not yet brought it to perfection.
Tou will not find it on earth, since there it has no growth ;
It grows only in the caverns of the mountains.
The whole art depends on it ;
For he who has the vapour of this thing.
Has the gilded splendour of the Eed Lyon,
The pure and clear Mercury.
And he who knows the red Sulphur which it contains,
Has within his power the M'hole foundation."
Basil Valentine, more intimately defining the nature
of the First Matter, declares it to be comparable to no
manifested particular wdiatever, and that all descrip-
tion fails in respect of it, without the light of true
experience. And Rupecissa says the same ; and Rip-
ley, that it is not like any common water or earthy
material, but a middle substance, — Aquosa substantia
sicca reperta, — partaking of extremes celestial and ter-
^ Ecce dicta in hoc despecto, fama divulgata quod apud philoso-
phos excelsum est, quod est lapis et non lapis, quod multis non^
cupantur nominibus, ne quis ipsum agnoscat insipiens, &c. —
Turba Philosophorum Sermo Vigesima.
Est lapis attamen non lapis,
In ipso solum natura operatur,
Qui tons ex eo profluit, .
Fixum patrem suum submergit,
Absorbens illiiui cum corpore vitaque,
Donee reddatur illi anima
Et mater volatilis ipsi similis
Fiat in suo regno, &c.
B. Vahntinii De Prima Materid.
2 Lucerna Salis Phil. p. 33. From the Latin verse. Est qui-
dem lapis et non lapis, &<•. — See Digbv's Trans, p. 277.
G 2 ■
84 Exoteric View.
resti'ial ; and though it may seem contradictory so to
speak of a first matter, as of a middle, or third ; yet
this is done in respect of its generation by active and
passive relations of the Universal Spirit, whence it pro-
ceeds as a third, yet homogeneal from its radix ; Lully
also calls it tertium, and compounded in this sense ;
and Basil Valentine, —
Corpua anima spiritus in duobus existit,
Ex quibus tota res procedit :
Pi'ocedit ex uno et est res una,
Volatile et fixum simul coUi^a,
Sunt duo et tria et saltom unum
Si non intelliges, nibil obtines.'
And Vaughan, for example of a modern authority,
says, that the First Matter is indeed the union of
masculine and feminine spirits ; the quintessence of
four, the ternary of three, and the tetract of one ; and
that these are his generations, physical and metaphy-
sical. The thing itself, continues he, is a world
without fortu, a divine animated mass of complexion
like silver, neither mere power nor perfect action, but
a weak virgin substance, a certain soft prolific Venus,
the very love and seed of nature, the mixture and
moisture of heaven and earth. ^ As Sendivogius like-
wise declares, — Our water is heavenly, not wetting the
hands, not of the vulgar, but almost rain water ;^
and by such familiar analogies as tears, rain, dew,
milk, wine, and oil, the fermentative principle of the
spirit and her distilled quintessence are very ordinarily
denoted. We conclude these verbal instructions with
the following sununary passage from the ancient book
of Synesius, and the New Light. — It is, says this
esteemed author, speaking of the same Matter, a
clear Light, which fills with true virtue every mind
that has once perceived it ; it is the nucleus and bond
^ B. A'alentinii De Prima Materia, in Museo Hermotico. Lullii
Theor. ot Pract. cap. iii.
2 Lumeu de Luinine, p. 46, &c.
■^ Now T;igbt of Alchemy, Ti'act. 10. Of the Supprnatur:il (J one-
ration.
Theory of Transmutation. 85
of all the elements which are contained in it, and the
spirit which nourishes all things, and by means of
which nature operates universally ; it is the virtue,
true beginning, and end of the whole world ; in plain
terms, the quintessence is no other than our viscous
celestial and glorious soul drawn from its mincra by
our magistery. But nature alone engenders it ; it is not
possible to make it by art ; for to create is proper to
God alone ; but to make things that are not perceived,
but which lie in the shadow, to appear, and to take from
them their veil, is granted to an intelligent philoso-
pher by God, through nature. And this Latex is the
sharp vinegar which makes gold a pure spirit, seeing
she is even that blessed w^ater which engenders all
things. Our subject is presented to the eyes of the
whole world, and it is not known ! O our heaven, O
our water, O our mercury, O our salt nitre, abiding
in the sea of the world ! O our vegetable ; O our sul-
phur, fixed and volatile ; O our caput mortuum, or
dead head, or fceces of our sea ! Our water, that wets
not the hands ; w^ithout which nothing can live, and
without which nothing growls or is generated in the
whole world ! And these are the Epithetes of Hermes,
his Bird, which is never at rest. It is of small account,
yet no body can be without it, and so thou hast dis-
covered to thee a thing more precious than the whole
world ; which I plainly tell thee is nothing else than
our sea water, which is congealed in gold and silver,
and extracted by the help of our chalybs, or steel, by
the art of philosophers, in a wonderful manner by a
prudent son of science.^
Thus obscure, after all, is the true Matter of the
Alchemists ; and if w^e presume to add here, that it
is the simple generated substance of life and light, im-
manifestly flowing throughout nature, and define it as
that without which nothing that exists is able to be,
we are not for this yet wiser how to obtain or work it
• See at the end of Kirchringius Valentine, in English, the Trea-
tise of Synesius, p. 166, and Sendivogius, New Light of Alchemy,
page 44.
Si) Exoteric View.
apart ; nor are words sufficient to convey a just notion
where there is no ground of apprehension ; and whether
a thing be most hke water, earth, fire, quicksilver,
azote, or ether, is indift'erent to the mind, needing ac-
tual experience to fix its idea. This the art promises
to a patient and true philosopher, but as a reward of
individual labour and perseverance only. We may con-
tent ourselves thus early, therefore, with the exclusive
assurance that it is no one of the many things with
w^hich sense brings us acquainted ; that it is neither
water, nor earth, nor air, nor fire, though it contains
in principle the nature of all these ; neither gold, nor
silver, nor mercury, nor antimony, nor any alkali, or
gas, or vitriol of the vulgar ; though these titles are
found interspersed abundantly with others, equally
deceptive, in the pages of the adepts. Neither is it
animal absolutely, or vegetable, or mineral, or any
natural particular whatever : but the alone Lcelia
^lia latent in and about all, which the Enigma cele-
brates as comprehending all ; but which the Alchemists
alone teach experimentally to expound.
The ordinary phenomena of light, however, may
occur, as not dissimilar from those which they de-
scribe ; only that they are shadowy and mingled, com-
pared with the alleged virtue and perfective properties
of the Philosophic Subject. Yet as colours — blue, red,
yellow, and purple — are blended in the one uniform
solar light, and are shown apart simply by a prismatic
parting of the rays, or particles of their essence ; and
again, when the disposition is exchanged, relapsing,
they exhibit the uniform whiteness whence they came ;
so is it said to be with the Alchemical Pan, who,
being but one himself, is in his offspring multitudi-
nous, and manifold in every diversity of form, hue,
and complexion.
The ever varying substance of the wliole
Etherial, watci-y, earthly geiiei'al soul,
Immortal Fire ! Even all the Morld is tliine
Aud parts ot'tliec, O Proteus, power divine;
Since all things nature first to thee consigned,
Aud in thv essence omuiform combined.
Theory of Transmutation. 87
Then, again, as light and heat mingle with bodies
entering their composition, hardening some, softening
others, destroying or cherishing, changing their aspect
continually, and modifying their qualities ; so is the
Mercurial quintessence said to produce all various
effects, but within itself consummately without exter-
nal reference, or elementary confusion. Hitherto w^e
have had account of the Matter only as it first appears,
pure, as they say, and white, out of the philosophical
contrition ; and, so far, we find the testimony suffi-
ciently congruous : — but wdien the wise artist has
brought all into this annihilate condition, and pressed
out the waters of her extreme life ; nature re-acting,
as it is said, exhibits from out her unity three great
magnetic principles of being — the Salt, Sulphur,
and Mercury of adepts, in relation to each other
of agent, patient, m\d offspring universal, — perpe-
tually flowing forth to multitudinous manifestation.
For Pan contains Proteus, as we have before seen
from Democritus, and exhibits himself through this
god ; evolving every particular property and form of
beings, out of his central will, of necessity, as the Or-
phic oracle declares ; also of Mercury, with like allusion.
Hear me, 0 Mercury, and Son of Maia ; the bright expositor of
things !
This Proteus then, or Mercury, or quintessence of
philosophers, is warily concealed by them under an
infinity of names, all more or less applicable, yet de-
lusive ; for though every epithet is admissible, inas-
much as nothing can be said amiss of a Universal Sub-
ject, yet the right conception is hard to gather from
their books. In its artificial fermentation and pro-
gress towards perfection, the changes it undergoes are
manifold ; and as the common life of nature, it be-
comes any and every conceivable thing in turn that it
wills to be ; now it is mineral, now vegetable, now
animal ; by predominance of either principle, it is fire,
spirit, body, air, earth, and water ; a stone, a vapour,
or an aqua sicca ; an essential oil of hfe, and a most
88 Exoteric View.
sharp vinegar, a phoenix, a salamander, a poisonous
devouring dragon, and a chameleon ; eveiy colour,
every thought is included in its circulations ; nourish-
ing, destroying, living, dying, corrupting, purifying, it
is all things ; and, anon, it is nothing, — but a potential
chaos and egg of philosophers ; a precedential, nameless
principle, always in mutation, becoming to be, — first,
last, greatest, least, the servant of art and queen of
nature. Proceeding homogeneal through each omni-
form variety, and returning into herself manifestly the
life and all phenomena which she as constantly sup-
plies, the great Identity is as herself unchanged ;
.J - -^'
Et, quaiito ilia magis tbriiias se vertet iu oinnis, /'^/
Tanto, iiate, magis tenacia vincla.^ ' / /
Adepts have taken advantage of the mutable nature
of their subject, to baffle the blind searcher, as w ell to
confound false premises as to lead the intelligent to a
discovery of the simple truth ; and where we find them
speaking confusedly of elements, colours, and opera-
tions, it is very requisite to bear in mind the idiosyn-
cracy of their ground, and that it is to the qualities
and changes which take place during the preparation,
and multiplying the Mercury by its proper Light, they
allude, and not to any superficial phenomena or those
elements which the moderns have so triumphantly
decomposed. The three principles, the Salt, Sulphur,
and Mercury, are merely different as modes of being of
the same thing, and the many names arising out of the
action and passion of these, do but indicate the stages
of progress and development, as of a tree, which with
its leaves, trunk, flowers, buds, fruit and branches, all
differing, is nevertheless one individual, of one original,
and of one root.
In the common estate, as the Spirit is in nature, said
to be everywhere, it is called a thing vile and cheap ;
in its perfectly prepared form, a medicine the most
potent and precious in the whole world ; and the inter-
' Georgics, lib. iv. 411.
Theory of Transmutation. 89
mediate stages partake of the predoniinarice of either
extreme ; being subHmed at first, it is called a serpent,
dragon, or green lion, on account of its strength and
crude vitality, which putrefying, becomes a stronger
poison, and their venomous toad ; which afterwards
appearing calcined by its proper fire, is called magne-
sia and lead of the wise ; which again dissolving, be-
comes their vitriolic solvent and most sharp acetum ;
and this afterwards is changed into an oil, which,
whitening, is called milk, dew, quintessence, and by
many other names ; until raised to the final perfec-
tion, it is henceforth a phoenix, salamander, their
royal essence and Red Stone.
Our great Elixir most liigh of price.
Our Azot, oiu' Basiliske, and our Adrop, our Cocatrice.
Some call it also a substance exuberate.
Some call it Mercury of metalline essence,
Some limus deserti from his body evacuate,
Some the Eagle flying fro' the north with violence,
Some call it a Toade for his great vehemence.
But few or none at all doe name it in its kinde,
It is a privy quintessence ; keep it well in minde.^
Some speaking of it thus in metaphor, others in
abstract terms, and all ambiguously; one regarding only
certain properties, which another as entirely passes by,
now describing in the natural state, then in its purified
condition, or otherwise in any one of the intermediate
stages through which it passes, without note of order
in the art ; altogether it is by no means wonderful that
so many erroneous conclusions have arisen respecting
it, ingenuity having been rather directed to obscure
than reveal the truth, which indeed can hardly be well
conceived, without an insight into the experimental
ground. And there are other difficulties which beset
an exoteric theory of occult science, and inconsisten-
cies will continually appear betwixt the sound of the
alchemical writings and their true sense, until the
initial ground is understood. Patience in the beginning
is required, therefore, to interrogate and discern, from
^ Bloonifield's Camp of Philosophy, book i. in Ashmole.
90 Exoteric View.
amongst so many shadowy representatives, the true
light. Constantly holding in mind the simplicity of
the Substance, whence these images are all derived, we
may nevertheless be enabled to thread in comparative
security this Hermetic labyrinth of birds and wild
beasts : and wdien Geber says, that the thing which
perfects in minerals, is the substance of argent vive
and sulphur, proportionally commixt in the bowels of
clean inspissate earth ;^ or Sendivogius, that the mat-
ter of the metals is twofold ;"^ or Lully, or Ripley, or
Basil, calls it a third thing ; we shall not understand
them, or any others so speaking, as of a variety of
things, of sulphur, mercury, or earth in a common-
sense interpretation, but of the magnetic relation,
action, and passion of the Ethereal being in itself.
And fi'om the foregoing we may also judge that
when Hermes says that the separation of the ancient
philosophers is made upon Water, dividing it into four
substances,-^ that it is not the common elementated
water to wdiich he alludes ; any more than did Thales
wdien he said that all things were generated from
thence, or Moses when he taught that the Spirit of
God moved creatively upon the face of the same. This
water they speak of is not the fluid with which in this
life we are conversant, either as dew, or of clouds, or air
condensed in caverns of the earth, or artificially dis-
tilled in a receiver out of sea fountains, either of pits,
or rivers, as the empirical chemists formerly imagined ;
but it is the ethereal body of life and light which
they profess to have discovered, — a certain tortured
water, having suffered alteration by art and become
corporified. O how w^onderful, exclaims the Arabian,
is that Thing which has in itself all things which we
seek, to which we add nothing different or extract,
only in the preparation removing superfluities!^
The sense of all these philosophers is the same and
from their gathered evidence we may infer that their
^ Invest, of Perf. cap. i. ^ ]>j^ew Light, Tract. 3.
^ Tract. Aur. cap. i. prop. v. •• Eosarium, Aristotele Arabus.
Theory of Transmutation. 91
Stone is nothing more or less than the pure Ethereahty
of nature, separated by artificial means, purified and
made concrete by constriction and scientific multiph-
cation of its proper Light — the preparation, generation,
birth, specification — all proceeding, arte mirabili, on
the hidden basis of its primal eduction. Earliest and
easiest it attains to the perfection of the mineral
kingdom ; and the seed of gold, says the adept, is a
fiery form of Light inspissate, and this is the Stone of
Fire; — Lapis noster, hie est ignis, ex igne creatus,
et in ignem vertitur, et anima ejus in igne moratur.^
Thus nature, by the help of art, is said to transcend her-
self, and Light is the true fermenti^te principle which
perfects the Ether in its proper kind.
Nor can one be so stupid as to think
That water of its own accord should cause
Within itself so great a change, and link
SuljDhur and mercury with so firm laws,
Its own dimensions to penetrate
So many times a metal to create.
' No, there must be an inward agent granted,
Else would a thing unchanged still remain ;
This agent is the form that matter wanted,
While it its proper nature did retain ;
This Eorm is Light, the source of central heat,
Which clothed with matter doth a seed beget.
The seed no sooner is produced, but soon
Essays to bring the matter to a change,
On it it stamps its character, Avhich done,
The Matter lives, and that which may seem strange,
Co-worketh with the Form t' attain the end
To which the seed implanted doth intend, &c.-
This of the mineral kingdom, where the Formal
Light, by multiplication in its Ether, is said to produce
gold ; through superior skill and coction in the vege-
table life, the elixir of the wise ; and more rarely yet
in the animal kingdom, and most of all in man ;
wherein all these are included, and a mj'^stery of Uni-
versal Being, profound and difficult to govern and no
^ Rosarium, Democritus Phil. Artis Auriferse, vol. ii.
"^ Eireneus, Marrow of Alchemy, book i. 45.
'azj
al,
92 Exoteric View.
less arduous than glorious to sustain. For though the
material is one throughout, forms are diverse, and in
him it assumes an Image that is Divine and more po-
tent than all the rest : which is in this life yet an
embryo, but when unfolded through a new birth in
universal intelligence, transcends the limits of this
nether sphere, and passes into communion with the
highest life, power, science, and most perfect felicity.
Of the phenomena of light, electricity, magnetism,
&c., great account is taken at the present day ; both to
exhibit them, and to apply their various potencies to the
affairs of life : but of the real source of these potencies,
or of the true efficient in any case, nothing is known.
The beam has been tried and tortured, through pris-
matic glasses and crystals, every chemical agent has
been exhausted upon it, and electrical machines have
been instituted to entrap the fluid, but in vain.
The learned are free to admit that, though they have
discovered much of the mysterious influences of light,
the more is discovered the more miraculous do they
appear. — It has passed through every test without
revealing its secrets, and even the effects which it pro-
duces in its path are unexplained problems still to tax
the intellects of men.^ These phenomena are effects
then of a Cause unknown, and that very unknown
Cause it was the alleged object of the Hermetic experi-
ment to prove. Shall we not therefore revert to the
inquiry, and search earnestly, if a glance of faith be
granted only, to ascertain whether, recovering the
ancient method of philosophizing, we may advance by
it to the same end ?
Truth is no where manifested upon the earth, because
her forms or sulphurs are perplexed, and the passive
spirit of nature is included and impure. She is more-
over specified everywhere, and does not consequently,
as a true passive, reflect without difference another
impressing image from without truly to itself. But by
the Hermetic dissolution the right recipient is said to
' See Hunt's Poetrv ni' Science.
Theory of Transmutation. 93
be obtained, the pure is separated from the impure,
the subtle ft'om the gross, and the agent and the
patient are one identity, as in the Emerald Table
it is graven, — that which is below is as that which is
above, and that which is above is as that which is below,
for the performing of the miracles of the One Thing
whence all the rest proceed by adaptation. — And on this
unitary basis of production the metamorphosis of spe-
cies is not so entirely ridiculous. Have we not example
in the common process of fermentation, the '^ild juice /"7?v
of grapes converted into wine, and milk into butter and /
cheese and whey ; and these each proceeding out of
one thing without requiring the addition of anything
different : but only by operation of their own ferment
they become changed into different specific natures?
Just so is the Vital Spirit said to be, by the art of Al-
chemy, promoted from one form of being into another
by its own prepared must or leaven; and as such, in turn,
it reacts convertively on the elements of its original ex-
traction ; having previously passed on, through many
stages, from imperfection to perfection. Analogy of this,
likewise, we have in the animal kingdom ; caterpillars
changing their neuter forms quiescently, and becoming
winged moths. There remains the great difference, how-
ever, that whereas, in these familiar examples, impri-
soned nature rests necessarily within the limiting law of
her species ; the will of the philosophic Proteus is free
to be drawn without hinderance to form itself about the
universal magnet of its own infinite self-multiplicative
Light ; which being transmuted, transmutes ; and mul-
tiplying, multiplies its proper substance freely, in pro-
portion to the virtue which it has acquired in the
fermentation. And hence it may be better conceived,
perhaps, how this fermented spirit or Stone, (as in the
crystalline perfectness of its essence it has been called,)
when brought into contact with the crude life of nature
whence it sprung, transmutes, /. e. attracts the same
away from other forms into intimate coalescence with its
own assimilative light. And notwithstanding metals and
all things in the world, as the adepts say, derive their
94 Exoteric View.
origin from the same Spirit, yet notliing- is reputed so
nearly allied to it as gold; for in all other nietals there
is some impurity, and, therefore, a certain weight is
lost in transmuting from them ; but in gold there is
none, but the Formal Light is wholly swallowed up in
it without residue, dissolving intimately, gently, and
naturally, as they compare it to ice in warm water ;
an excellent simile, by the way, inasmuch as the com-
mingling natures differ in estate only and were origi-
nally one. And I say to you, adds Sendivogius, that
you must seek for that hidden thing, out of which is
made, after a wonderful manner, such a moisture or
humidity which doth dissolve gold without violence or
noise, but sweetly and naturally ; if you find out this
you have that thing out of which gold is produced by
nature. And although all metals have their origin from
thence, yet nothing is so friendly to it as gold ; it is
even like a mother to it ; and so finally I conclude.^
And the method of working to this discovery, and to
supply the deficiency of Form to the purified body of
the Spirit, is described as the same in each of the three
kingdoms of nature : the preparation only being diver-
sified according to the variety of things indigent or in-
tended to be changed. And if the Art has been more
frequently proved in the mineral kingdom than in the
other two, we learn that this has happened, not be-
cause the power is limited here, or because adepts have
desired gold above every other good ; but because the
metalline radix first presents itself in the experimental
process, and is most easily apportioned ; and because the
responsibility involved is less vital and consequential, it
has been more freely exhibited and worked at large.
In metals, says Geber, is lesser perfection than in ani-
mals ; and the perfection of them consists more in pro-
portion and composition than in anything else. There-
fore, seeing in them is less perfection than the othei-,
we can more fi'cely perfect these. For the Most High
hath so distinguished perfections fi'om each other in
^ New LiG^Vit of Alchemv, I'ref'ace to the Pliil. Eniirma. p. 49.
Theory of Transmutation. 9C)
many forms ; and those things which in the natural
composition were weakest, (/' e. where hfe predominates
over corporeal consistency,) are by God endued W'ith
gi'eater and more noble perfection, viz., that which
subsists according to soul or mind. And other
things by Him made of a more firm and strong com-
position, as stones and metals, are endued with lesser
and more ignoble perfection, viz., that which is fi'om
the w'ay of proportionate mixtion of the matter.^
But metals, notwithstanding their inferiority of pro-
portion, are said to be produced originally, as all
other things are produced, from metalline seeds out of
the Universal Spirit or Mercury, by wliich also they may
be exalted and multiplied, and by no other thing ; for
that without this Spirit growth is impossible, or trans-
mutation or increase, and by it all natures are generated
externally in their proper kinds. And the reason
that is given why metals wdiich thus include the proli-
fic principle do not naturally increase, is a deficiency
of heat, the Spirit being overcome in the gross, pre-
ponderating elements of their hard composition, so
that they cannot fructify, unless they be first purged
from their terrestreity and their tincture set free in
the subtle Original of all life. Vulgar gold Sendivogius
compares to a herb without seed, which wdien it is ripe
bears seed ; and as trees from southern climates cease
to blossom and bear fruit when transplanted into colder
soils, so it is with the metals hindered by the crude
earth of which they are composed. But, he adds, If
at any time nature be sweetly and wittily helped, then
art may perfect that which nature could not : gold
may yield fruit and seed in which it multiplies itself
by the industry of a skilful artificer, who knows how
to exalt nature, and this by no other medium than fire
or heat ; but seeing this cannot be done, since in
a congealed metallic body there appear no spirits, it is
necessary that the body be loosened and dissolved,
and the pores thereof opened, whereby nature may
1 Invest, of Perf., Eussell's Greber, p. 44.
96 Exoteric View.
work.* And thus, continues another, when the mine-
ral spirit is pure, it will, by its especial forms, do more
than generate their forms to produce something like
themselves, for it will work such an alteration in
things of like nature with themselves, that they shall
equahze the Philosophical EHxir, whose divine virtues
wise men so much admire, and fools condemn because
their blinded eyes cannot penetrate within to the cen-
tre of the mystery.'^
We do not presume to suppose that such a view of
nature will be immediately acceptable, or that the Her-
metic theory presents itself even in a plausible aspect
as yet ; the Laws on this ground are directly inverse to
our ordinary notions of natural procedure and to our
acquired conception of simplicity and specific variation.
But we are not investigating for those who make their
mere individual experience a negative measure of be-
lief, and who understand the possibilities of nature
and art so far as to limit them ; but for such rather
who, more observing, see reason for hope beyond their
present vision, and are able to imagine at least those
surpassing realities which the ancients assert convic-
tively as having apprehended in intellect and experi-
mentally known. We have hitherto brought their tes-
timony so far only as the existence of a Homogeneal
Subject in nature, showing tliat the same was the ma-
terial basis of their philosophy, and the only principle of
transmutation, life, increase, and perfection. We have
endeavoured also to explain, (as well as the fence with-
out which we placed ourselves for the preliminary dis-
cussion would admit,) that the reduction of bodies to
their original matter, by introversion of the generated
life, is requisite to a true manifestation and permanence
in any form, as by the ordinary process of fermentation
also was famiharly evinced ; furthermore, that this in-
version is not in the power of unassisted nature, as is
1 New Light of Alch. Tract. 10; also AuguroUiis C'lirysopaea,
lib. i.
^ Nuysenient, Sal, Lumen et Spiritus Mundi, Phil. ed. Com-
bachius.
Theory of Transmutation. 97
evident : indeed, she never withstands or alters for an
instant her mode of being or vital perpetuity. It is in
vain, therefore, to seek for that in nature which is an
effect beyond her strength ; she must be helped, that
she may exceed herself, or all will be useless. For the
Mercury of the philosophers is not found of itself on
earth, nor can be detained or perfected without this oc-
cult and needful Art assisting her. And these are the
grand desiderata, to know what the true matter is,
where and how it may be taken, and to find an artist
able and fitted to perfect it : — without the former we
are advised to attempt nothing ; and without the latter
the former can be practically of no avail.
Having premised thus much concerning the matter
with the ground of the Hermetic theory, so far only,
however, as may enable us to guard against gross mis-
apprehension ; we propose, previous to entering on a
more intimate discussion, to set the whole fairly before
the reader's judgment, in the following translation of the
Tractatiis Aureus, or Golden Treatise of Hermes, coh-
cerning the Physical Secret of the Philosopher's Stone,
which has been considered to be one of the most an-
cient and complete pieces of alchemical writing extant ;
and may be regarded as an exposition in epitome of
the whole Art. Mystical and disorderly as this relic is,
and must especially appear at first to any one unaccus-
tomed to the antique style, we trust that the short
pains may not be grudged that it will cost in passing
on with us to the discovery of its idea. The treatise
has been held in high esteem by the alchemists, and
the Scholia given in part may assist in the perusal.
Whoever the author may have been (for, though it
bears the name of Hermes, the true origin is doubtful ;)
it wears the impress of very great antiquity, and claims
better than to be frivolously judged of by those who
are uninitiated in science and ignorant of the kind of
wisdom it unfolds. Prudence, patience, and penetra-
tion, the author owns, are required to understand him,
and more than these for the discovery of his Great Art.
Books were not written in those davs for the informa-
98 Exoteric View.
tion of the illiterate, as though any vulgar distiller or
mechanic might carry away the golden fleece ; or in
such a guise that the covetous, who made gold their
only idol, should readily, without research and the
due Herculean labour, gather the apples of the Hespe-
rides : nor yet that any, though learned, as the adept
adds, should by once or twice overly and slightly read-
ing, as the dogs lap the waters of Nilus, straightway be
made a philosopher. No, the magistery of this science
forbids so great a sacrilege : our books are made for
those who have been or intend to become conversant
about the search of nature.^ For this is the first step
towards the discovery of truth, to be diligent in the
investigation ; other requirements there are and rea-
sons for the extraordinary caution that has been used
to keep the Art concealed, which may in the sequel be
appreciated when it is intimately understood.
And ye may trust me 'tis no small ingiun,
To know all the secrets pertaining to this myne,
For it is most profouude philosophy,
This subtill science of holi Alkimy.-
Vc£^/ ^ See Eiren/us Ripley Eevived.
/ 2 Norton's Ordinal.
The Golden Treatise. 99
CHAPTER III.
The Golden Treatise of Hennes Trismegistus, cun-
cermng the Physical Secret of the Philosopher's
Stone. In seven Sections.
SECTION FIRST.
EVEN thus saith Hermes : Through long years, I
have not ceased to experiment, neither have I
spared any labour of mind ; and this science and art
1 have obtained by the sole inspiration of the living
God, who judged fit to open them to me His servant ;^
who has given to rational creatures the power of
thinking and judging aright, forsaking none, or giving
to any occasion to despair.^
For myself, I had never discovered this matter to
any one, had it not been from fear of the day of judg-
ment, and the perdition of my soul, if I concealed it.
It is a debt which I am desirous to discharge to the
1 There are three things said to be necessary for the attainment
of the Hermetic science : viz., study, experience, and the divine
benediction ; and these depend upon each other : study is required
for the theory, and this for entering into the central experience
which, in the Universal Spirit, is not found without God.
^ Without theoretic knowledge and a right principle to begin
^^^th, many have wearied themselves in experimenting, even with
the right subject, in vain ; but the true intention once discovered,
the whole truth opens, as practice siicceeds to theory, alternating
in the philosophic work. You must know, says Geber, that he
who in himself knows not natural principles is very remote from
our art, because he has not a true root whereon to found his in-
tention ; but he who knows the principles and the way of genera-
tion, which consists according to the intention of nature, is bvit a
very short way from the completement. (Sum of Perf. booki.).
See also Norton's Ordinal Proheme, and chapters i. and iv. ; and
the Introitus Apertus ad Occlusum Eege*» Palatio, cap. viii. &c. C^
H 2
100 Exoteric View.
faithful, as the Father of the faithful did hberally be-
stow it upon me.^
Understand ye then, O sons of Wisdom, that the
knowledge of the four elements of the ancient philo-
sophers was not corporally or imprudently sought
after, which are through patience to be discovered ac-
cording to their causes and their occult operation.
But their operation is occult, since nothing is done
except the matter be decompounded, and because it is
not perfected unless the colours be throughly passed
and accomplished.'^
Know then, that the division that w^as made upon
the Water, by the ancient philosophers, separates it into
four substances ; one into two, and three into one ;
the third part of which is colour, as it were — a coagu-
lated moisture ; but the second and third waters are
the Weights of the Wise.^
^ Our author hereby declares that it was conscience which
moved him to disclose his dearly-acquired knowledge, but in such
terms only to the world that the studious might understand and
follow in his steps. He nowhere, therefore, addresses the igno-
Q rant, lest his instruction should be abused ; but the predestined
^ sons of wisdom, to guide them, being already initiated, furtlier into
^ the practice of his high art.
2 Here we have a premonitory opening of the philosophic work
which Hermes calls a knowledge of the elements ; which elements,
however, are not commonly to be understood ; noH corporaliter, as
the Scholiast explains, sed spiritualitei' etsajnenter, — not corporally
but spiritually and wisely ; for the properties of the Universal
Spirit are abstrusely included in all existence, and to be understood
only by its own intimate analysis and introverted light. But
nothing is done except the matter be decompounded ; for there
are many heterogeneous images and superfluities adhering to this
subject in its natural state, which render it u]itit for progress ;
these therefore must be entirely discharged ; which, say the adepts,
is impossible without the theory of their arcanum, in wliich they
show the medium by which the radical element is discovered and
set free to the accomplishment of its inclusive law. See The
Scholium — Paracelsus 1st book to the Athenians. K. Lullii
Theoria et Practica, cap. iii. Norton's Ordinal, cap. v. Eipley's .
Third Gate, &c. Introitus Apertus ad Occlusum Eegam Palatio, /-S/
cap. viii. /
^ Tlie philosophic water then, being divided iuto four parts or
hypostatic relations, they are called elements. First, the one part,
being divided, ])roduces two, which are as agent and patient in
The Golden Treatise. 101
Take of the humidity or moisture an ounce and a
half, and of the Southern Redness, which is the soul of
gold, a fourth part, that is to say, half an ounce ; of
the citrine Seyre, in like manner, half an ounce ; of the
Auripigment, half an ounce, — which are eight ; that is
three ounces. And know ye that the vine of the wise
is drawn forth in three, but the wine thereof is not
perfected, until at length thirty be accomplished.^
Understand the operation, therefore, decoction les-
, ^ sens the matter, but the tincture augments it : because
^^^^>L/Luna kr fifteen days is diminished ; and in the third,
she is augmented. This is the beginning and the end.^
the ethereal world ; further afterwards, from their conjunction,
three are said to be made manifest as body, soul, and spirit, which
co-operating together in tlie unity of the same Spirit, beget all
things, giving birtli to the whole substratal nature. The dif-
ferences of the colours, observes the Scholiast, Hermes divides
into two threes, i. e. into three red spirits and tliree white, which
have their growth all from the same identical water, and are re-
solved into the same again. By considering, therefore, that this
water or mercury of the adepts has, within itself, its own good
sulphur, or vital flame, thou mayest perfect all things out of
mercury ; but if thou shalt know to add thy weights to the weights
of nature, to double mercury and triiile sulphur, it will quickly be
terminated in good, then in better, until into best of all. See the
Scholium ; Sendivogius' New Light of Alchemy, p. 117 ; Arnoldi
Speculum, Disp. viii.
^ The proportional working of the philosophic matter upon its
parts is indicated by adepts under variously perplexed forms and
measures. Those distinctions which Hermes makes of the hu-
midity, the southern redness, soul of gold, seyre, citrine, auripig-
ment, the vine of philosophers and their wine, have no other sig-
nification, says the Scholiast, but that the Spirit should be seven
times distilled, which after the eighth distillation is converted by
force of the fire into ashes, or a most subtle powder which, by
reason of its purity and perfection, resists the fire. IVeither
wonder, he adds, that eight pai'ts and three ounces are equivalent ;
for by the former section the one part is divided into two, to each
of wlaich there are added three parts, which are the true philo-
sophic proportions called also by Hermes the Weights of the Wise.
See the Scholium ; Ripley's Epistle ; Introit. Apert. cap. vii. ;
Norton's Ordinal, cap. v.
2 Understand here the diminution and increase of that ethereal
light, which is the passive luminary in the Philosophic Heaven,
whose changes and manifest operations are described as wonderfully
parallel with those of the familiar satellite, by which the philosopher
vt plea.si?d covex't.^':^ indicatesher. Some divide the operation of the
102 Exoteric View.
Behold, I have declared that which was hidden,
since the work is both with thee and about thee ; that
which was within is taken out and fixed, and thou
canst have it either in earth or sea.^
Keep, therefore, thy Argent vive, which is prepared
in the innermost chamber in which it is coagulated ;
for that is the Mercury which is celebrated from the
residual earth. ^
philosopher's stone into two parts ; the former Hermes calls de-
coction, which dissolving the matter, discharges also its impuri-
ties by a proper ride ; until, being at length on the verge of
annihilation, i. e. freed from every exteriorly attracting form, it
prepares, as Democritus in the fable of Proteus alludes, to restore
itself through a powerfixl inbred revolutionary force. Then follows
what is called the Second Work, which is only, in continuation of
the First, to perfect the newly informed embryo and multiply its
vivific light. In such few words, therefore, Hermes professes to
comprehend the whole of the artificial process of working the
Spirit.
1 Herein is the work commended and suggested to true in-
quirers, that they may forsake the beaten road of experiment, and
seek to know intrinsically within themselves the substance of that
Universal Natm-e in which they, with all beings in common, as it
were, unconsciously live ; which, in the natural order of genera-
tion, is made occult, abiding throughout invisibly. And as was
explained in the theory concerning other gross elementary bodies,
that the true original cannot be made manifest except they be
reduced into it ; so with respect to man, that which is sown, (viz.
the catholic germ of his existence which comprehends all things,
according to the Hermetic tradition, and mystery of the whole
causal nature, with the faitli and assurance of a better life,) is not
quickened except it die. That which is within, viz. the causal
light, must be drawn forth by art and fixed ; and that which is
without, viz. the sensual spirit of life must be made fluxile and
occultated before reason can become into tliat Identity by which
the powers of the Universal Nature are made manifest and intrin-
sically imderstood. But intending to enlarge inquiry on this
head, we defer our comments.
2 Our mercury, says tlie wise Scholiast, is philosophic, fiery,
vital, running, which may be mixed with all other metals and
again separated from them. It is prepared in the innermost
chamber of life, and there it is coagulated, and where metals grow
there they may be found, even in the ultimate axle of each created
life. If you have found tliis argent vive, then, which is the resi-
duum of the philosophic earth after the separation, keep it safely,
for it is worthy. If you have brought your mercurial spirit to
ashes or burnt it by its own fire, you have, continues our inform-
ant, an incomparable treasure, a thing more precious tlian gold ;
The Golden Treatise. 103
He, therefore, who now hears my words, let him
search into them ; which are to justify no evil-doer,
but to benefit the good ; therefore, I have discovered
all things that were before hidden concerning this
knowledge, and disclosed the greatest of all secrets,
even the Intellectual Science.^
Know ye, therefore. Children of Wisdom, who in-
quire concerning the report thereof, that the vulture
standing upon the mountain crieth out with a loud
voice, I am the White of the Black, and the Red of the
White, and the Citrine of the Red ; and behold I speak
the very truth. ^
And know that the chief principle of the art, is the
Crow which is the blackness of the night and clearness
of the day, and flies without wings. From the bitter-
ness existing in the throat, the tincture is taken ; the
red goes forth from his body, and from his back is
taken a thin water. ^
for this is that which generates the Stone, and is born of it, and
it is the whole secret which converts all other metalline bodies in-
to silver and gold, making both hard and soft, agent and patient,
putting tincture and fixity upon them. See the Scholium, Maria
Practica, circa finem ; Introit. Apert. cap. iv. and v. ; Ku|(nrath,
Amph. Isag. in fig.
^ Grive not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye
your pearls before swine, says the Divine Teacher ; and some men
the Scriptures have compared to dogs, yea greedy dogs, wolves
and foxes ; these are unfit to be admitted to the Causal Know-
ledge, lest, handling the powerful machine of nature recklessly
or unjustly for selfish ends, they subvert the order of fijial causes,
and, rifling her treasury, turn again and rend her. Hermes leaves
the Mystery thus, therefore, to unfold itself through study and
faithful experiment, that the mind by searching and patient in-
vestigation may be prepared and able to appreciate the truth when
found. We, also, intending to explore the Intellectual Ground
more fully hereafter, follow in its own wilfial order the Hermetic
mind.
2 The vulture, according to our Scholiast, is the new born quint-
essential spirit or Proteus ; the mountain upon which the vulture
stands is a fit vessel placed in a well-built philosophic furnace en-
compassed with a wall of fire. In him all the multifarious virtues
of nature are declared to be held in capacity, as in rapid evolu-
tion he passes about his axis, making the light manifest without
refraction in every variety of its colouring and creative imagina-
tion.
•'' The vulture and the crow are interpreted to be one and the
/KUy,
104 Exoteric View.
Understand, therefore, and accept this gift of God
which is hidden from the thoughtless world. In the
caverns of tlie metals there is hidden the Stone that
is venerable, splendid in colour, a mind sublime, and
an open sea. Behold, I have declared it unto thee ;
give thanks to God, who teacheth thee this know-
ledge ; for He in return recompenses the grateful.'
Pat the matter into a moist fire, therefore, and
same thing, only differing somewhat iu estate. Whilst the Spirit
of life appears active and devouring in the process, it has been
called the vulture, and when it lies in a more obscured and passive
condition, the crow. The vultm'e is the first sublimed quint-
essence not 3et perfected by art ; the crow is also in the infancy
of that work wherein the revivified spirit is united with its solar
ferment. The blackness of the night is the putrefaction of the
same, and the clearness of the day signifies its resurrection to
a state of comparative purity. It flies without wings, being
borne and carried by the fixed spirit ; and the bitterness existing
in the tliroat occultly indicates the death of the first life, whence
the sold is educed ; which is also the red and living tinctiu'e taken
from the body ; and the thin water is the viscous humidity made
by the dissolution, which radically dissolves all metals, and re-
duces them into their first ens, or water.
Montis in excelso consistit vertice vultur
Assidue damans, Albus ego atque niger,
Citrinus, rubeusque feror nil mentior : idem est
Corvus, qui pennis absque volare solet
Xocte tenebrosa mediaque in luce dieri,
Namque ortis caput est ille vel iste tuae.
— See The Scholium — Atalanta Fugieus Emblema, xliii.
^ Our author here, repeating his exception of the unintelligent,
at the same time eloquently identifies the philosophic matter,
calling it meyis subliinis et mare patens. It is hidden in the caverns
of the metals; that is to say, in the central motion of the mineral
life, where the spirit is first coagulated and conceives itself into a
concrete form. It is called a stone, say the adepts, because its
generation is seen to be like that of stones, and it is a true
mineral petrifaction: therefore Alphidius writes — Si lapis pro-
prium nomen haberet lapis esset nomen ejus ; and Arnold — Est
lapis et non lapis spiritus, anima, corpus, quem si dissolvis dissol-
vitur, et si coagules coagulatur, et si volare facis volat ; est enini
volatilis, albus ut lachryma oculi. It is a stone and no stone,
spirit, soul, and body, which if thou dissolvest, it will be dis-
solved ; and if thou coagulatest, it will be coagulated ; and if
thou dost make it fly, it will fly, for it is volatile and clear as a
tear, etc. Sec Arnoldi Speculum— Kii)|inrath Ampli. Isag. in fig.
cap. iii.
The Golden Treatise, 105
cause it to boil, in order that its heat may be aug-
mented, which destroys the siccity of the incombus-
tible nature, until the radix shall appear ; then extract
the redness and the light parts, till only about a third
remains.^
Sons of Science ! For this reason are philosophers
said to be envious, not that they grudged the truth to
religious or just men, or to the wise ; but to fools, ig-
norant, and vicious, who are without self-control and
benevolence, least they should be made powerful, and
able to perpetrate sinful things. For of such the
philosophers are made accountable to God, and evil
men are not admitted worthy of this wisdom.^
^ Many ways are mentioned by adepts of acting with their
matter as by sublimation, calcination, coagulation, inceration,
fixation, &c. ; which may all however be comprehended under the
first term rightly understood ; for the Hermetic sublimation, re-
peatedly operated over and over again, is the occasion of many
changes in the matter and efiects, which, though differently desig-
nated, are in their source the same. This sublimation is not, there-
fore, exactly to be conceived by analogy with the ordinary chemical
process, which is a mere elevation of the subject to the top
of the vessel ; but the Hermetic sviblimation is said to change the
matter, qualifying and meliorating each time that it succeeds ;
urging on life, as it were, to the utmost exercise of vivacity, to
save itself from death and a total disseveration. Concerning the
peculiar nature, origin, and artificial excitation of the philosophic
fire, we may more effectively inquire hereafter. — See Kipley
Eevived, p. 2G3 ; Lumen de Lumine, p. 58 ; Introit. Apert. cap. iii.
- The monitions to secresy are no less stringent than frequent
in the writings of adepts, modern as well as ancient. Thus,
Raymond LuUy, in his Thesaurus, gives the following charge :
— Juro tibi supra animam meam quod si ea reveles, dam-
natus es : nam a Deo omne procedit bonum et ei soli debetur.
Quare servabis et secretum tenebis illud quod ei debetiu' revelan-
dum, &c. And Norton -oi-ites —
So this science must ever secret be.
The cause whereof is this, as ye may see :
If one evil man had hereof all his will.
All Christian peace he might easily spill ;
And with his pride he might pull do\Aai
Eightful Kings and Princes of renown.
Wherefore the sentence of peril and jeopardy
Upon the teacher resteth dreadfully.
See LuUii Testam. ; Aquinas Thesau. Alchim. ; Norton's Ordinal,
cap. i. and viii. ; E. Bacon, Speculum.
106 Exoteric View.
Know that this matter I call the Stone ; but it is
also named the feminine of magnesia, or the hen, or
the white spittle, or the volatile milk, the incombus-
tible oil, in order that it may be hidden from the inept
and ignorant, who are deficient in goodness and self-
control ; which I have nevertheless signified to the
wise by one only epithet, viz., the Philosopher's
Stone. Include, therefore, and conserve in this sea,
the fire, and the heavenly bird, to the latest moment
of his exit. But I deprecate ye all, sons of philo-
sophy, on whom the great gift of this knowledge
being bestowed, if any should undervalue or divulge
the power thereof to the ignorant, or such as are unfit
for the knowledge of this secret.^
Behold, 1 have received nothing from any, to whom
I have not returned that which had been given me,
nor have I failed to honour him ; even in this I have
reposed the highest confidence.
2
^ The philosophic matter has indeed received many perplexing
appellations, some more, some less significative of its real origin
and essence ; but in the concrete form, and for reasons before
given in part, it has been properly called the Stone. In this
same universal matter of the Stone also Hermes includes all its
multinominal ingredients. In its flowing, humid state it is called
the sea of the wise, passive to all impressions and influences of
the light. By the tire and heavenly bird are signified, says the
scholiast, the external and internal agents in the Hermetic
work, by either of which it is conserved and nourished to the end,
2 In friendship, gratitude, and reciprocity of benefaction, say
the adepts, consists the chief art of operating with their matter ;
and no man, for reasons hereafter explicable, can operate the
Hermetic artifice alone.
So saith Amolde of the New TowTie,
As his Rosary maketh mencione ;
He sayeth right thus withouteu any lye
There may noe man IMercury mortifye,
But it be with his brother's knowledging.
Lo, now he which first declared this thing
Of philosophers' father was, Hermes the King.
See Chaucer's Tale of the Chanuon's Yeoman, Theat. Chem.
Brit, page 251. Arnoldi Rosarium, circa fiiiem.
The Golden Treatise. 107
This, O son, is the concealed Stone of many colours ;
which is born and brought forth in one colour ; know
this and conceal it. By this, the Almighty favouring,
the greatest diseases are escaped, and every sorrow,
distress, and evil and hurtful thing is made to depart ;
for it leads from darkness into light, from this desert
wilderness to a secure habitation, and from poverty
and straights to a free and ample fortune.^
SECTION SECOND.
My son, before all things I admonish thee to fear
God, in whom is the strength of thy undertaking ; and
the bond of whatsoever thou meditatest to unloose :
whatsoever thou hearest, consider it rationally. For I
hold thee not to be a fool. Lay hold, therefore, of
my instructions and meditate upon them, and so let
thy heart be fitted also to conceive, as if thou wast
thyself the author of that which I now teach. If thou
appliest cold to any nature that is hot, it will not hurt
it : in like manner, he who is rational shuts himself
within from the threshold of ignorance ; lest supinely
he should be deceived.^
' The consummate union of tlie purified spirit with its source
is thus covertly indicated by Hermes as the true corner-stone
of his philosophy ; and that tincture of many dyes which, being
dissolved renews itself, and dying survives itself, until its Final
Cause is fully manifest and accomplished. This is the elixir of Light
from the central essence, so set free, that it is said to prolong
life, and cure disease and moral indigence and physical defects,
mingling with the common breath of nature the efficacy of an
exalted life and love.
2 Further suggestions are now given concerning the true sub-
ject and operation of the Hermetic work. Having previously
shown that the way to the attainment of the magistery is by com-
munion with the ruling Spirit of nature ; entering yet deeper as the
work progresses towards the Causal discovery, Hermes admonishes
the student earnestly to fear and obey its Law ; lest, being trans-
gressed in any part, man should work evil instead of good through
its means.— The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, and the
knowledge of the Holy is understanding ; — and this, in the most
profound sense, is said to be proved in Alchemy, and that they
only who have become conversant by experience in the Fontal
108 Exoteric View.
Take the flying bird and drown it flying, and di-
vide and separate it from its pollutions, which yet hold
it ill death ; draw it forth, and repel it from itself, that
it may live and answer thee, not by flying away into
the regions above, but by truly forbearing to fly. For
if thou shalt deliver it out of its prison, after this thou
shalt govern it according to Reason, and according to
the days that I shall teach thee ; then will it become
a companion unto thee, and by it thou wilt become to
be an honoured lord.^
Extract from the ray its shadow, and from the light
its obscurity, by which the clouds hang over it and
keep away the light ; by means of its constriction,
also, and fiery redness, it is burned. Take, my son,
this redness, corrupted with the water, which is as a
live coal holding the fire, w^hich if thou shalt withdraw
so often until the redness is made pure, then it will
associate with thee, by whom it was cherished, and in
wdiom it rests.-
Nature have truly and properly understood wliat it is, and why
God is to be feared. Ingrafted i'n that root, writes our scholiast,
the true understanding will grow up in thee, and fill thee, even as
the body is filled, with life. Thou must enter with thy whole
spirit into the centre of natui'e, and there behold how all things
are begun, continvied, and perfected. But thou must fii'st enter
into that Spirit which is the Framer of all things, which pierces
through and dwells in that central root ; and by entering into
that, it will, as a vehicle, carry thee into the same root where all
tilings arc hidden, and reveal to thee the most recondite mysteries,
and show thee, as in a glass, the whole work and laboratory of the
most secret nature. Hermes, therefore, recommends him who is
rational, and desires the further instruction of his reason, to shut
liimself within, away from the distractions of sense and this life's
ignorance, and learn to open to himself the door of a higher con-
sciousness, lest in the outward acceptation of words or things lie
should be deceived. Having premised thus mucli, he proceeds to
detail the process by which the spirit is carried on from each
succeeding dissolution into a more perfect form of being.
^ Tliese images, indicating the mode of rational operation with
the freed spii'it and its soul, wiU appear Liievitably obscure. Tlie
entire process is repeated many times before perfection is arrived
at ; and instructions for each, according to the arising phenomena,
are given by the scholiast at full length.
2 A shadow y darkness passes always along with the philosophic
The Golden Treatise. 109
Return then, O ray son, the coal being extinct in
life, upon the water for thirty days, as I shall note to
thee ; and, henceforth, thou art a crowned king, rest-
ing over the fountain, and drawing from thence the
Auripigment dry, without moisture. And now, I have
made the heart of the hearers, hoping in thee, to re-
joice even in their eyes, beholding thee in anticipation
of that which thou possessest.^
body, moving in its own light until it is thoroughly purified from
sensual defilements. Now that the clearness may be manifest
throughout without obscurity, says the scholiast, the body must
be repeatedly opened and made thin after its fixation and dis-
solved and putrefied, and as the grain of wheat sown in the earth
putrefies before it springs up into a new growth or vegetation,
so our Magnesia, contiaues he, being sown in the Philosophic
Earth, dies and corrupts, that it may conceive itself anew. It is
purified by separation, and is dissolved, digested, and coagulated,
sublimed, incerated, and fixed by the reciprocated action of its
own proper Identity, as agent and patient, alternating to improve.
The water spoken of by Hermes is the passive spirit, the redness
is its soul, and the earth begot betwixt them is the substance or
body of both — -the spirit thereafter penetrates the body, and the
body fixes the spirit — the soul being conjoined, tinges the whole
of its proper colour, whether white or red. This process is given
in the following enigma, by the excellent author of the Aquarium
Sapientiim, or Water Stone : —
Spiritus ipse datiir pro tempore corpori, at ille
Exhilarans Animam Spiritus arte cluet.
Spiritus ille Animam subito si contrahit ad se,
Nullum se abjungit segregat aque suo.
Tunc tria consistunt et in una sede morantur.
Donee solvatur, nobile corpus, opus.
Putrescat nee non moriatur, separat istis :
Tempore at elapso Spiritus atque Anima
^stu conveniunt extreme sive calore,
Quisque suam sedem cum gravitate tenet.
Integritas prsesto est, nulla et perfectio desit
Amplis laetitiis glorificatur opus.
See the Scholium, and Aquarium Sapientflm, Musaeum Hei--
meticum, p. 95.
1 Here again the allusions will appear wilfully obscure to the
uninitiated, for the master presupposes not only a knowledge of
the Matter, but of the Vessel also in which it is scientifically con-
cocted ; but we must pass on. The life of the coal is fire, which
110 Exoteric VIEvv^
Observe, then, that the water was first in the air,
then in the earth ; restore thoii it, also, to the supe-
riors by its proper windings, and not foolishly alter-
ing it ; then to the former spirit, gathered in its red-
ness, let it be carefully conjoined.^
Know, my son, that the fatness of our earth is
sulphur, the auripigment, siretz, and colcothar, which
are also sulphur ; of which auripigments, sulphur, and
such like, some are more vile than others, in which
there is a diversity ; of which kind also is the fat of
glewy matters, such as are hair, nails, hoofs, and sul-
phur itself, and of the brain, which too is auripig-
ment ; of the like kind also are the lion's and cat's
being extinct, becomes a dead body ; nor of coal alone, but of all
other things light is the life, and it is heat that conserves it. But
the essence of life, says the scholiast, is nothing else tlian a pure,
naked, unmingled Fire ; not that indeed which is corrupting and
elementary, but that which is subtle, celestial, and generating all
things. The same is of metals their first matter containing the
three principals, the Salt, Sulphur, and Mercury, of which so much
has been spoken and ignorantly misapplied. By the crowned
king, Hermes signifies the first manifested resplendence of the
vital tincture ; the well is, as- the catholic spirit of life, inex-
haustible ; at the bottom, or centre rather, of which subsists the
occ^llt Causality of all ; even from this, the true efficient wheel, is
drawn, according to tradition, that auripigment of philosophers
which is the multiplicative virtue of their stone. AVhen thou
shalt see thy exhalations to return, teaches the adept, and by
continuance of them on thy body, light shall begin to appear with
such admirable colours as never were seen by the eye of man in
so little a room before ; then rejoice, for now our king hath
triumphed over the miseries of death, and behold him returning
in the East, with clouds, in power and great glory. Here thou
mayest rest and bait, and enjoy the glory of thy white elixir; now
is the time at liand in Avhich that of the poet is fulfilled.
Ne te poeniteat faciem fuligine pingi
Adferet hsec Phoebi nigra fo,villa jubar.
jCX^I See Eiren^us, Eipley Re\"ived ; Yaughan, Lumen de Lumine, p.
! I 58, &c. ; Antlirop. Theomag. p. 22 ; and the Scholium.
' Convert the elements, says Arnold, and you shall have wliat
you desire ; that is to say, separate the matter into its essential
relationships, and join them again together in harmonious pro-
portion.— See Arnoldi Speculum sub initio, Basil Valentine's Stone
of Fire, Smaragdine Table, .^'c.
The Golden Treatise. 1 1 1
claws, which is siretz : the fat of white bodies, and the
fat of the two oriental quicksilvers, which sulphurs are
hunted and retained by the bodies.^
1 say, moreover, that this sulphur doth tinge and
fix, and is held by the conjunction of the tinctures ;
oils also tinge, but fly away, which in the body are
contained, which is a conjunction of fugitives only with
sulphurs and albuminous bodies, which hold also and
detain the fugitive Ens.^
The disposition sought after by the philosophers, O
son, is but one in our egg ; but this in the hen's egg is
much less to be found. But lest so much of the
Divine Wisdom as is in a hen's egg should not be dis-
tinguished, our composition is, as that is, from the
four elements adapted and composed.^
Know, therefore, that in the hen's egg is the greatest
help with respect to the proximity and relationship of
the matter in nature ; for in it there is a spirituality
and conjunction of elements, and an earth which is
golden in its tincture.*
• Hermes alludes here in part to tlie various manifestations of
tlie spirit in this natural life, and the vegetable growth of it
in animal bodies. The occult luminous principle of vitalization
he calls sulphur, auripigment, &c., hiding it also under a variety
of other covertures.
2 A distinction is here made by our author of the different
estates and uses of the philosophic sulphur, or Light, as it be-
comes developed in the Hermetic work.
^ Hermes divides the matter into four parts, as was before seen,
comparing also its vital composition to that of a hen's egg, which
answers in all respects, excepting the catholicity, to the compound
simple of this art.
Est avis in mundo sublimior omnibus, ovum
Cujus ut inquiras, cura sit una tibi.
Albumen luteum circumdat molle vitellum,
Ignito (ceu mos) cautus id ense petas :
Vulcano Mars addat opem : puUaster et inde
Exortus, ferri victor et ignis erit.
See Atalanta Eugiens, p. 41, Epigramma viii. and the Scholium.
* The Alchemists uniformly recommend us to observe nature,
that from analogy we may be better able to imagine and judge of
112
But the son, enquiring of Hermes, saith — The sul-
phurs which are tit for our work, wliether are they
coelestial or terrestrial ? To whom the Father answers,
certain of them are heavenly, and some are of the
earth. ^
Then the son saith — Father, I imagine the heart in
the superiors to be heaven, and in the inferiors earth.
But saith Hermes — It is not so ; the masculine truly is
the heaven of the feminine, and the feminine is the
earth of the masculine.^
The son then asks — Father, which of these is more
w^orthy than the other ; whether is it the heaven or the
earth ? Hermes replies — Both need the help one of the
other; for the precepts demand a medium. But,
saith the son, if thou shalt say that a wise man
governs all mankind? But ordinary men, replies
Hermes, are better for them, because every nature de-
lights in society of its own kind, and so we find it to
be in the Life of Wisdom where Equals are conjoined.
But what, rejoins the son, is the mean betwixt them?
To whom Hermes replies — In everything in nature
there are three from two, the beginning, the middle,
and the end. First the needful water, then the oily
tincture, and lastly the foeces or earth which remains
below. ^
the proper method of experimenting, and learn to co-operate witli
her Spirit eficctnally to regenerate it. For particulars of the
Hermetic similitude, see the Scliolium.
^ A short dialogue hereupon ensues between Hermes and his
son ; the father explaining that the distinctions of lights or sul-
phurs in the process ouglit not to be indiflerently understood, as
if they were all of one quality or idea. For the spirit, though one
in essence, is extremely diversified in its conception, as also
according to the degree and order of its rectification by art.
^ The purified sulphur fixed and incombustible, is the generat-
ing seed of the universal nature, according to the adepts ; but the
mercury (which is tlie recreated body of the spirit, passive and
pure) is sometimes called the earth of the wise, conceiving into
itself the same seed by which it is also nourished, digested, per-
fected, and brought to birth — that is, to a visible manifestation of
its intrinsical virtue and light. But the son's allusion is intimate
to the art, and particular. See the Scholium.
-* When, by their strong attracting law, the active and passive
The Golden Treatise. 113
But the Dragon inhabits in all these, and his
houses are the darkness and blackness that is in
them, and by them he ascends into the air, from his
rising which is their heaven. But, whilst the fume
remains in them, they are not immortal. Take away
therefore the vapour from the water, and the blackness
from the oilv tincture, and death from the faeces : and
by dissolution thou shalt possess a triumphant reward,
even that in and by which the possessors live.^
relations are conjoined in the Spirit, they become equalised in
their progeny ; and as the mystical problem of the Trinity includes
three in one and one in three — agent, patient, and offspring uni-
versal and co-equal ; so these three are found to be in all created
things imitatively, the paternal, maternal, and proceeding ens of
life. And there are the Salt, Sulphur, and Mercmy of the adepts,
without ^Yhich, they say truly, nothing ever is or can be vitally
substantialised. And thou hast in these three principles, says
Sendivogius, a body, a spirit, and an ocevdt soul ; which three,
(being of one only substance in a triple relationship,) if thou shalt
join them together, having been previously separated and well puri-
fied, will without fail, by imitating nature, yield most pure fruits
&c. "When the adept speaks therefore of a natural triplicity, he
speaks, reiterates Vaughan, not of kitchen-stuff, those three pot-
principles of water, oil, and earth — or, as som.e call them, salt, sul-
phur, and mercury ; but he speaks of hidden intrinsical natures,
known only to absolute magicians, whose eyes are in the centre and
not on the circumference, and in this light, every element is
threefold. — See Anthrop. Theomag. p. 22 ; Sendivogius, New
Light of Alchemy, Digby's Ed. p. 3 ; and the Scholium.
^ The dragon is the self-willed spirit, which is externally de-
rived into nature, by the fall into generation. And by it, says the
scholiast, Hermes especially signifies the blackness of the matter
on its first ascension, which is operated with difficulty on accomit
of its thick glutinous body, which has to be resolved, by force of
the philosophic art, into an aerial and vaprous substance ; and
during this process, we are informed, the powers of the Philoso-
phic Heaven are wonderfully shaken and defiled, insomuch, that
tike a poisonous dragon it destroys all that it touches, and hence
it is said to have its houses in darkness, and to possess blackness
and mortality, and death ; for the root of this science is a deadly
poison. Therefore, says Hermes, take away the vapour from the
water, and the blackness from the oily tincture, and deatli from
the faeces, that the component principles may be pure, and by
dissolution thou shalt possess a triumphant reward, even that in
and by which the possessors live. Thus, the evil of the original
sin is said to be discovered by a radical dissolution of the spiint,
and without this discovery and the arising evil, it cannot return
I
114 Exoteric View.
Know then, my son, that the temperate unguent,
wliicli is fire, is the medium between the fueces and
the water, and is the Perscrutinator of the water.
For the unguents are called sulphurs, because between
fire and oil and this sulphur there is such a close
proximity, that even as fire burns so does the sulphur
also.^
All the sciences of the world, O son, are compre-
hended in this my hidden Wisdom ; and this and the
learning of the Art consists in these wonderful hidden
elements which it doth discover and complete. It
behoves him, therefore, who would be introduced to
this hidden Wisdom, to free himself from the usurpa-
tions of vice ; and to be just, and good, and of a sound
reason, ready at hand to help mankind, of a serene
countenance, dih'gent to save, and be himself a patient
guardian of the arcane secrets of philosophy.^
And this know, that except thou understandest how
to mortify and induce generation, to vivify the Spirit,
and introduce Light, until they fight wn'th each other
and grow white and freed from their defilements, rising
as it were from blackness and darkness, thou knowest
nothing, nor canst perform anything; but if thou
to its pristine purity and. the immortality of its first source.
Cause, therefore, adds a no less subtle than experienced adept,
such an operation in our earth, tliat the central heat may change
the water into air, that it may go forth into the plains of the
world and scatter the residue through tlie pores of the eartli ; and
then, contrariwise, the air will be turned into watei', far more
subtle than the first water was. And this is done thus : if thou
give our old man gold or silver to swallow, that he may consume
them, and then he also dying may be burned, and his ashes scat-
tered into the w^ater, and thou shalt boil that water until it be
enough, thou shalt have a medicine to cure the leprosy (of life).
See tlie Scholium ; Sendivogius, New Light, p. 35 ; Maria Practica.
^ The knowledge of this secret sulphur, says the Scholiast, and
how to prepare it and use it in this work includes the whole
art of perfection. It is tlie stirrer-up of the whole power and
efficacy and purifier of the matter ; hence Hermes calls it the
Perscrutinator, eminently distinguishing the Eational ferment, con-
cerning which it will be our purpose to inquire hereafter.
- The whole paragraph will speak plainly for itself when it is
understood, which we leave for the present therefore unexplained.
The Golden Treatise. 115
knowest this, thou wilt be of a great dignity, so that
even kings themselves shall reverence thee. These
secrets, son, it behoves thee to conceal from the
vulgar and profane world. ^
Understand also, that, our Stone is from many
things and of various colours, and composed from
four elements, which we ought to divide and dissever
in pieces, and segregate, in the veins ; and partly mor-
tifying the same by its proper nature, which is also in
it, to preserve the water and fire dwelling therein,
which is from the four elements and their waters,
which contain its water : this however is not water in
its true form, but fire, containing in a pure vessel the
ascending waters, lest the spirits should fly away
from the bodies ; for, by this means, they are made
tinging and fixed. ^
O, blessed watery form, that dissolvest the elements !
Now it behoves us, with this watery Soul, to possess
ourselves of a sulphurous Form, and to mingle the
same with our Acetum. For when, by the power of
the water, the composition is dissolved, it is the key of
the restoration ; then darkness and death fly away
from them, and Wisdom proceeds onwards to the ful-
filment of her Law.^
^ The principles of the art of working the matter are here re-
peated. The two contrary natures of light and darkness must
contend together, as it were, in mortal strife, and the war must be
waged unceasingly for the destruction of the foreign life until it
succumbs, grows Avhite, as Hermes says, in order that the internal
agent may return to vivify the whole, and yield the abundant
tincture of its light.
2 The catholic nature is multifarious in its conception, and
passes in the art through a strange variety of forms and ap-
pearances ; but she operates her proper progress neeessitously
under the threefold law of life ; the ingress, egress, and alternat-
ing action of which, under dominance of either of its principles,
constitutes the whole phenomena of the Hermetic process.
^ Grreat is the reputed virtue of this Aqua Philosophica, which
distils itself finally to manifestation by the Art of Life ; for, as com-
mon water washes and cleanses things outwardly, so this inwardly
effects the same, even itself pm-ifying itself from its inbred
defilements, so that no vestige of evil remains. And, being con-
joined in consciousness with the central Efficient, it becomes
I 2
116 Exoteric View
SECTION THIRD.
Know, my son, that the philosophers bind up their
Matter with a strong chain, that it may contend with
the Fire ; because the spirits in the washed bodies
desire to dwell therein and to rejoice. In these habi-
tations they vivify themselves and inhabit there, and
the bodies hold them, nor can they be thereafter sepa-
rated any more.^
The dead elements are revived, the composed .odies
tinge and are altered, and by a wonderful process they
are made permanent, as saith the philosopher.'^
aU powerful, and the key of every magic art. The preparation of
it is not known to many, says the Scholiast, and a very few have
obtained it ; because the well is deep out of which it is drawn ;
nor do the vulgar chemists understand it. Nor can this secret be
truly learned either from a master at all, but practice reveals it
by the instinct of nature. See the Scholium and Lumen de
Lumine, p. 67.
^ This may again remind the reader of the passage from De-
mocritus, where, describing the universal experiment, he says that
that method of working with .nature is the most effectual which
makes use of manacles and fetters, laying hold on her in the
extremest degree. And this constriction, according to the scho-
liast's teaching, is not made by chance, but by means of the
affinity wliich is between the body and its spirit, as Mayer also
alludes, in his Emblems — Naturam uatura docet debellet ut ignem ;
for they both proceed from one fountain, though, of the two,
the agent, because it vivifies and holds the particles of the matter
together, is representatively superior in operation, to compel
the Protean Hypostasis of Nature to enter into his true Form.
Nam sine vi non ulla dabit prsecepta, neque ilium
Orando flectes : vim duram et vincula capto
Tende. Doli circum hsec demum frangentur inanes.
See the Gcorgics, lib. iv. 397 ; Maieri Atalanta Fugiens Em-
blema, xx. ; Democritus, in the Fable of Proteus ; Aquarium
Sapientiim Enigma ; and the Scholiast on Hermes.
- The bodies ot the metals, explains our Scholiast, are the
domicils of their spirits, which when they are received by the
bodies, their terrestrial substance is by degrees made thin, ex-
tended, and purified, and by their vivifying power, the life and fire
hitherto lying dormant is excited and made to appear. For the
life which dioeUs in the metals is laid, as it were, asleep (in sense),
nor can it exert its powers, or show itself, unless the bodies (?. e.
The Golden Treatise. 117
O permanent watery Form, creatrix of the royal
elements! who, having with thy brethren and a just
government obtained the tinctm'e, findest rest.^
Our most precious stone is cast forth upon the
dunghill, and that which is most worthy is made vilest
of the vile. Therefore it behoves us to mortify two
Argent vives together, both to venerate and to be vene-
rated, viz., the Argent vive of Auripigment, and the
oriental Argent vive of Magnesia.^
the sensible and vegetable media of life) be first dissolved
and turned into their radical source ; being brought to this
degree, at length, by the abundance of their internal light, they
communicate their tinging property to other imperfect bodies,
transmuting them into a fixed and permanent substance. And
this, he adds further, is the property of our medicine, into which
the previous bodies (of the spirit) are reduced ; that, at first,
one part thereof will tinge ten parts of an imperfect body, then
one hundred, tlien a thousand, and so infinitely on. By which the
efficacy of the creative word is wonderfully evidenced, Crescite et
multiplicamini. And by how much the oftener the medicine
is dissolved, by so much the more it increases in virtue, which
otherwise, without any more solution, would remain in its single
or simple state of perfection. Here there is a celestial and divine
fountain set open, which no man is able to draw dry, nor can it be
exhausted should the world endure through an eternity of genera-
tions.— See the Scholium ; Introit. Apert. cap. viii. ; Trevisanus
Opusculum circa finem.
' The fixed watery Form of the philosophic matter, which
Hermes here apostrophises, is the same as was before celebrated,
only more mature ; this is the fountain which Bernhard Trevisan
mentions, of such marvellous vii'tue above all other fountains in
the whole world, shining like silver and of caerulean clearness.
It is the Framer of the I'oyal elements, says Hermes, i. e. it draws
to itself the rubified light of its internal agent permeating the
same tliroughout the whole essentiality. Separate, says Eiieneus,
the light from the darkness seven times, and the creation of the
philosophic Mercury will be complete, and this seventh day will be
for thee a sabbath of repose ; from which period, until the end of
the annual revolution, thou mayest expect the generation of the
svipernatural son of Sun, who comes about the last age into the
world to purify his brethren from their original sin. — See the
Scholium ; Trevisanus, end of his Opusculum ; Now Light of Sendi-
vogius, 10th Treatise ; and the Introit. Apert. cap. iii. &c.
2 The same catholic nature, which in its preternatural exaltation
appears so very precious in the eyes of the philosopher, is in the
common world defiled ; abiding everywhere in putrefactions and
the vilest forms of life. It is likewise despised by mankind, who
1 18 Exoteric View.
O Nature, the most potent creatrix of nature, which
containest and separatest natures in a middle princi-
ple! The Stone comes with light, and with light it is
generated, and then it generates and brings forth the
black clouds or darkness, which is the mother of all
things.^
are, for the luost part, uncouseious even of its subsistence, mucli
more are they not ignorant of the method of exculpating it and
handling their life to good effect ? Hermes, indeed, gives instruc-
tion, as did Moses also, but under a veil, which it may be hardly
expedient to look through at this stage of our investigation.
^ AVe have signified from the testimony of the adepts already,
though without particularizing, that liglit or sulphur, as they call
it, is the true form or seed of gold, and the concentering vii-tue
of their philosophic stone. Thus far, then, the theory of the Her-
metic process may be supposed to run by the analogy of nature ;
grain, being cast into the common earth, grows and fructifies and
brings forth its increase, and this eduction is in its middle princi-
ple, that is to say, in the specificative form by which it is intrinsi-
cally generated and made to be that particular kind of grain and
no other. Tlius, the aurific seed, if truly such can be found to be
the specific seed of gold, needs only to be planted in its proper
etherial vehicle, well prepared and fallow to bring forth its vii'tiie
in manifold increase.
Ruricolae pingui mandant sua semina terra?,
Cum fuerit rostris ha'C foliata suis.
Pliilosophi niveos aurum docuere per agros
Spargere, qui folii se levis instar habeut :
Hoc ut agas, illud bene respice, namque quod aurum
Germinet, ex tritico videris, ut speculo.
But tlie Alchemical art has been continually compared to agi'icul-
ture ; and the analogy, indeed, appears to bear throughout so inti-
mately as to suggest and, almost without deviation, point out the
method of its application. The body is gold, says the author of
the jS^ew Light, which yields seed, our lune or silver, not common
silver, is that whicli receives the seed of the gold, afterwards it is
governed by our continual fire for seven months (philosophical),
and sometimes ten, until our water consume three and leave one ;
and that in duplo or a double. Then it is nourished with the
milk of the earth, or the fatness thereof, which is bred in the bowels
of the earth and is governed and preserved from putrefaction by
the salt of nature: and tlius the infant of the second generation
is produced ; and when the seed of tliat which is now brought
forth is put again into its own matrix, it purifies it, and makes it
a thousand times more fit and apt to bring forth the best and
most excellent fruits. But, before the metallic light is brought to
The Golden Treatise. 119
But when we marry the crowned king to our red
daughter, and in a gentle fire, not hurtful, she doth
conceive an excellent and supernatural son, which per-
manent life she doth also feed with a subtle heat, so
that he lives at length in our fire.^
But when thou shalt send forth thy fire upon the
foliated sulphur, the boundary of hearts doth enter in
above it, is washed in the same, and the purified mat-
ter thereof is extracted. Then is he transformed, and
his tincture by help of the fire remains red, as it were
flesh. But our son, the king begotten, takes his tinc-
ture from the fire, and death even and darkness, and
the waters flee away.^
this ultimate perfection, it must many times, therefore, suffer itself
to be eclipsed, and die and corrupt, as the adepts teach, accord-
ing to the similitude of nature ; yet, Avitli this difference, that
whereas the produce of common husbandry exhausts and deterior-
ates rapidly the earth whence it springs, and is always terminated
in its kind witliout progression, the etherial seed, on the other
hand, tends always to improve its generation, fertilizing by the
return of each successive growth, and enriching its maternal soil ;
and this process, according to Hermes, is repeated seven times be-
fore the final resurrection of the Quintessence into a permanent
form of life. — See the Scholium ; Maieri Atalanta Fugiens ^Epi-
gramma vi. ; Sendivogius, New Light, Treatise 9 and 10.
1 The new-born Quintessences are here shown to be reunited for
fructification and to be further promoted, and, as the fable relates
of Isis, that she brought forth Horus, even feeding him with fire ;
so it happens in the Hermetic work. And this is wonderful, ob-
serves the Scholiast, that the parents, who were before the nurses
and feeders again by the law of the same spirit, are to be nursed
and fed. It is nourished with a gentle heat, not in the vulgar
way of decocting, but conformable to the heavenly fire. But
when we say, adds the adept, that our stone generated by fire,
men neither see nor do they believe there is any other fire but
the conmion fire, nor any other sulphur or mercury — thus they are
deceived by their own opinions, saying that we are the cause of
their errors ; but it is not so. The philosophers uniformly distin-
guish their own especial fire as magical, creative, vital ; whereas
the common element is without sagacity or discrimination. Our
fire is a most subtle fire, inhabiting in himself an infernal secret
fire, and in its kind extremely volatile. Some call it the miracle
of the world, the nucleus of the superior and inferior forces of na-
ture, &c. — See the Scholium, Lumen de Lumine, p. 58.
" O happy gate of blackness, cries the sage, which art the
passage to this so glorious a change ! Study, therefore, whoso-
120 Exoteric View.
The Dragon shuns the sunbeams which dart through
the crevices, and our dead son lives ; the king comes
forth from the fire and rejoices with his spouse ; the
occult treasures are laid open and the virgin's milk is
whitened. The son, already vivified, is become a
w^arrior in the fire, and of tincture superexcellent. For
this son is himself the treasury, even himself bearing
the Philosophic Matter.^
Approach, ye sons of Wisdom, and rejoice : let us
now rejoice together ; for the reign of death is finish-
ed and the son doth rule, and now he is invested with
the red garment, and the scarlet colour is put on.^
ever appliest thyself to this Art, only to know this secret, for to
know this is to know all, but to be ignorant of this is to be igno-
rant of all. For putrefaction precedes the generation of every
new form into existence. It is the business of the philosophic
tire not onl}' to \dvify, but also to depurate and segregate the he-
terogeneity of its vehiculum, which being done there appears at
length in the fa'ces, a most pure and rubicund tincture of the
colour of flesh and blood. And as flesh is nothing but blood coa-
gulated, abounding with a fidl and vigorous spirit, so, adds the
adept, likewise our tincture is of blood coagulated, which blood
is the boundary or satisfaction of hearts, as Hermes alludes, the
object sought for, and which satisfies when attained. — See Scho-
lium, and Eipley Eevived, 5th Gate.
' The nature and origin of this Dragon was before discussed,
which becomes occultated in the rising of the internal light to
manifestation.
Si fixum solvas faciasque volare solutum,
Et volucrem figas, facient te vivere tutum
Solve, Coagula, Fige.
O Nature, cries the experimental adeptist, how dost thou inter-
change thy being, casting down the high and mighty and again
exalting that which was base and lowly ! O death, how art thou
vanquished, when thy prisoners are taken from thee and carried
into an estate and place of immortality ! The son, says Hermes,
has gotten the Tincture, for is he not in truth the whole quintes-
sential nature concentrated, as it wex-e personified, bearing in hand
the golden light of life to perpetualise it universally. — See the
Philosophical Epitaph of W. C. title page, and Eipley Eevived.
'^ The internal light, once made manifest to sense, so far is
ready for the perscrutiuation of another life into which it must be
induced to enter, to sutler again, and die in order to transmute
the foul material into itself. Hermes proceeds, in the next chap-
ter, to describe the work, which, in principle, differs nothing from
The Golden Treatise. 121
section fourth.
Understand then, O son of Wisdom, what the Stone
declares : Protect me, and I will protect thee ; increase
my strength, that I may help thee.^
My Sol and my beams are most inward and secretly
in me. My own Luna, also, is my hght, exceeding every
light ; and my good things are better than all other
good things ; I give freely and reward the intelligent
with joy and gladness, glory, riches, and delights ; and
them that seek after me I make to know and under-
stand and to possess divine things.^
Behold, that which the philosophers have concealed
is written with seven letters : for Alpha and Yda fol-
low two ; and Sol, in like manner, follows the book :
nevertheless, if thou art willing that he should have
dominion, observe the Art, and join the son to the
daughter of the water, which is Jupiter and a hidden
secret.^
the foregoing but in the images and delineation of phenomena
only.
^ The fermenting light by constant addition of the spirit,
leavens more and more, increasing as it tends to the perception of
its final cause in life. As Solomon, speaking of the Divine Wisdom,
says, Exalt her, and she shall promote thee, she shall bring thee
to honour when thou dost embrace her, &c. Proverbs iv. 8, 9.
2 The vital light, as we have before explained, is centrally
hidden in nature until it is drawn forth ; but re-entering from
without inwards, when freed agam, will it not then probably meet
itself in a yet more profoimd experience ? This is the problem
proposed for the truly intelligent, that they may inquire into the
Hermetic method of Self- Knowledge, which alone can enable man
to know and understand and possess divine things. — If thou
seekest for her as silver, and seai'chest for wisdom as for hidden
treasures ; then shalt tliou understand the fear of the Lord and
find the knowledge of God. Proverbs ii. 4, 5. But we post-
pone the examination of this mystical ground, suggesting so much
only as, in proceeding, we find requisite to elucidate the Hermetic
mind.
^ The seven letters are taken to signify the necessary phases
through which the philosophic material passes in order of colour
and qualitative virtiie ; some call them planets, others metals, (for
the radical life of the spirit is indeed mineral) ; and the rest of
Hermes' allusion is to the conjunction of active and passive prin-
ciples for the reproduction of light out of the whole.
122 Exoteric View.
Auditor, understand : let us use our Reason ; consider
all with the most accurate investigation, which in the
contemplative part I have demonstrated to thee ; the
whole matter I know to be one only thing. But who
is he that understands the true investigation and in-
quires rationally into this matter? It is not from man,
nor from anything like him or akin to him ; nor from
the ox or bullock : and if any creature conjoins with
one of another species, that w^hich is brought forth is
neutral from either.^
Thus saith Venus : I beget light, nor is the dark-
ness of my nature ; and if my metal be not dried all
bodies desire me, for I liquify them and wipe away
their rust, even I extract their substance. Nothing,
therefore, is better or more venerable than I, my bro-
ther also being conjoined.'^
But the king, the ruler, to his brethren, testifying
of him, saith : I am crowned, and I am adorned with
^ The profound significance of the first monition to use our reason
may be better appreciated on inquiry ; for Hermes lias cliosen to
conceal the philosophic vessel, and here condescends, in part, even
to an equivocation ; but we pass on. I say to you, writes Maria,
laconically, that this science may be found in all bodies ; but
philosophers have thought fit to say little of it, because of the
shortness of life and the length of this art. They found it most
easily in that matter which most evidently contains the four
philosophic elements. It is prepared in the innermost chamber
of life, says the wise Scholiast, and tliere it is coagulated ; and
where metals grow, there they may be found. — See Maria Practica,
and the Scholium.
2 All here is to be understood etheriaUy, according to the prin-
ciples before laid down. Yenus personifies the central light of
nature, which is occultated in her generations, and in metalline
bodies is more especially bound on account of their terrestreity,
and therefore they gladly adhere to this moist spirit, that it may
vivify them. And when she appears, writes a no less experienced
adept, the artist is rejoiced, and thii\ks perhaps his work is
finislied, and that he has the treasure of the world in hand ; but
it is not so : for if he tries it, the light still will be found imper-
fect, alone, and transient, without the masculine tincture to fix it
in manifestation. Hence the fable of Mars and A'enus taken
together by Vulcan, as will be hereafter explained, in the last
extremity of life. — See the Scholium ; Freher's Analogy ; and
Democritus, in Mammelli Summula.
The Golden Treatise. 123
a royal diadem ; I am clothed with the royal garment,
and I bring joy and gladness of heart ; for, being chain-
ed, I caused my substance to lay hold of, and to rest
within the arms and breast of my mother, and to fasten
upon her substance ; making that which was invisible
to become visible, and the occult matter to appear.
And everything which the philosopers have hidden is
generated by us.^
Hear then these words, and understand them ; keep
them, and meditate thereon; and seek for nothing more:
Man, in the beginning, is generated of nature, whose in-
ward substance is fleshy, and not from anything else.
Meditate on these plain things, and reject what is su-
perfluous.^
Thus saith the philosopher : Botri is made from the
Citrine, which is extracted out of the Red Root, and from
nothing else ; and if it be citrine and nothing else. Wis-
dom was with thee ; it was not gotten by thy care, nor,
if it be freed from redness, by thy study. Behold I
have circumscribed nothing ; if thou hast understand-
ing, there be but few things unopened.^
^ By the king, the Eational Efficient is signified ; by the brethren,
the inferior degrees of illumination in the spirit, which are finally
gathered up into accord with their first source. This same reason,
being artificially constrained, lest it should escape the fiery
ordeal, retui'ns, fastening, as Hermes says, i;pon the wheel of its
proper life, as it were, introverting the natural channel and order
of generation, whereby a door is marvellously opened into the
most intunate recess of life. — See the Scholium ; Introitus A-
pertus, cap. viii.
- "With what force and earnestness does the master here speak,
as if the whole ground of the mystery lay in these words. And
truly not in vain, observes the Scholiast, does he bid to understand
them, and meditate upon them, and to inquire after nothmg else.
Man, it is said, was created of the dust of the earth : that is, in-
terprets the adept, of the arising quintessence of the miiversal
nature ; but the understanding has never reached us, who, without
self-investigation, are nnable to perceive the reality of those
things which are spoken out of an experimental knowledge of Life.
3 By the term Botri is here signified the Philosopher's Stone.
The red root is the Terra Adamica, called sometimes Magnesia by
the wise, and Salt after the purification. It is not gotten by art,
but of nature spontaneously, when the conditions are supplied
and a pure receptacle to give it evidence.
124 Exoteric View.
Ye sons of Wisdom ! burn then the Brazen Body with
an exceeding great tire ; and it will yield gratefully
what you desire. And see that you make that which
is volatile so that it cannot fly, and by means of that
which flies not. And that which yet rests upon the
Are, as it were itself a fiery flame, and that which in
the heat of a boiling fire is corrupted is Cambar.^
And know ye that the Art of this permanent water
is our brass, and the colouring of its tincture and black-
ness is then changed into the true red.^
I declare that, by the help of God, I have spoken
nothing but the truth. That which is destroyed is
renovated, and hence the corruption is made manifest
in the matter to be renewed ; and hence the meliora-
tion will appear, and on either side it is a signal of Art. -^
• The self-willed hypostasis of nature must die, as we before
explaiued, in order to evolve her universal being ; and this also
must sufter and die necessarily in order to multiply the perfection
of its first form. Thus, in his own operative language, as it were
pyrographically, does Democritus exemplify the Hermetic pro-
cess at tliis juncture, when the innate evU being made manil'est,
the will proceeds to operate its proper solution in life. — Drawing
the Fixed Brass out bodily, writes our Abderite, thou shalt compose
a certain oblong tongue, and placing it again upon the coals, stir
A^ulcau into it : now irradiating with the Fossil Salt, now -nith
the incessant Attic Ochre, adorning now the shoulder and the
breast of Paphia, till she shall appear more manifestly beautiful,
and throwing the glaucus veil aside, she shall appear entirely
golden. Perchance, it was when Paris gazed on such a Venus, he
did prefer her both to Juno and Minerva. — But when the artist seeth,
adds a more modern experimentalist, the masculine tincture rise
from death, and come forth out of the black darkness together in
union with the white virginal spirit, he will then know that he
hath the great arcanum of the world, and such a treasure as is
inestimable. — See the Scholium ; Democritus in Flammelli Sum-
raula ; and Freher's Analogy.
2 By a conjunction with its o\vn permanent prepared spirit,
the albified water is made red. Adonis ab apro occiditur, cui
Yenus occurrens tinxit rosas sanguine. — See the Scholium ; Ata-
lanta Fugiens, Eiub. xli.
2 Thus, even as the Hermetic material is one the art is one ;
and the stone is also one mineral spirit, exalted by fermentation
intrinsically in its proper kind ; and as leaven makes leaven, and
every ferment begets its own exaltation ; as vinegar makes vinegar,
says the Scholiast, so this art beginning in our Mercury, likewise
finishes in the same. It is a kind of Proteus, indeed, which.
The Golden Treatise. 125
SECTION FIFTH.
My son, that which is born of the crow is the begin-
ning of this Art. Behold, how I have obscured the
matter treated of, by circumlocution, depriving thee of
the hght. Yet this dissolved, this joined, this nearest
and furthest off, I have named to thee.^
Roast those things, therefore, and boil them in that
which comes forth from the horse's belly for seven,
fourteen, or twenty-one days. Then will the Dragon
eat his own wings and destroy himself; this being-
done, let it be put in a fiery furnace, which lute dili-
gently, and observe that none of the spirit may escape.
And know that the periods of the earth are in the
water, which let be as long as until thou puttest the
same upon it.^
The matter being thus melted and burned, take the
brain thereof and triturate it in most sharp vinegar
till it become obscured. This done, it lives in the pu-
trefaction ; let the dark clouds which w^ere in it before
it was killed be converted into its own body. Let this
creeping upon earth, assumes the natiffe ^f a serpent, but be-
ing emersed in water, it represents itself as a fish ; and presently
being in air, and taking to i^elf wings, it flies as a bird ; yet is,
notwithstanding, One throughout the multiformity of nature.
With this the artist works, and with it he transacts all the neces-
sary operations of our Stone.
' The philosophic work is not considered to begin until after
the dissolution ; the preliminary preparation of the matter being
very generally termed the gross work. The manner of obscuring
the truth, by repetitions and circumlocutions, has been every-
where adopted by the Alchemists ; the nature of the process gives
room for this, and our author set an example, imitating the
devious instinct of the spirit in his illustrations.
2 The process of the dissolution is here gone over again, with
certain practical instructions, which the Scholiast explains under
another veil. The matter, he says, is to be decocted in the philo-
sophic furnace called Athanor, with a continual fire. And the
vessel which holds the matter must be exactly sealed, lest the
penetrative mineral vapour should expire and leave the dead body.
And this may be done with the lutum Sapientise, or Hermetic
seal, about which he gives particular instructions, and how the
orifices and junctures of the philosophic vessel must be encircled,
so that no breath may go forth.
126 Exoteric View.
process be repeated, as I have described ; let it again die,
as I before said, and then it lives. ^
In the life and death thereof we work with the
spirits ; for as it dies by the taking away of the spirit,
so it lives in the return and is revived and rejoices
therein. Being arrived then at this knowledge, that
which thou hast been searching for is made apparent
in the Affirmation. I have even related to thee the
joyful signs, even that which doth fix the body.
But these things, and how they attained to the
knowledge of this secret, are given by our ancestors in
figures and types : behold they are dead ; I have open-
ed the riddle, and the book of knowledge is revealed ;
the hidden things I have uncovered and have brought
together the scattered truths within their boundary,
and have conjoined many various forms, even I have
associated the Spirit. Take it as the gift of God.^
SECTION SIXTH.
It behoves thee to give thanks to God, who has be-
stowed liberally of his bounty to the wise; who delivers
us from misery and poverty. I am tempted and
proven with the fulness of his substance and his proba-
ble wonders, and humbly pray God that whilst we live
we may come to him.^
^ The cerebral, or superior life of the Spirit, is obscured during
the purification, and for the revealment of its true mineral radix or
source.
2 In a scientific association of the Spirit the Hermetic Art has
been said summarily to consist —
Ut ventus qui flat est ille qui dat. — Qui capit ille sapit.
^ He who shall have received so much grace from the Father
of Lights, as to obtain in this life the inestimable gift of the phi-
losopher's stone ; M"ho carries about with him, as the Scholiast ex-
presses it, even in his own breast, the treasury of universal na-
ture ; has need not only to be grateful but to be watchful of every
temptation, lest he should be drawn, even unwittingly, to abuse
it; for ho is then proven indeed, and taught how, in the midst of
so much abundance of power, wealth, and happiness, he should
humble himself and sink away from every appetite of self love in-
to the single adoration of the divine goodness ; for in this lium-
The Golden Treatise. 127
Remove thence, O sons of science, the unguents
which we extract from fats, hair, vercligrease, traga-
canth, and bones, which are written in the books of
our fathers.'
But concerning the ointments which contain the tinc-
ture, coagulate the fugitive and adorn the sulphurs, it
behoves us to explain their disposition more at large ;
and to unveil the Form, which is buried and hidden,
from other unguents ; which is seen in disposition but
dwells in his own body, as fire in trees and stones,
which by the most subtle art and ingenuity it behoves
to extract without burning.^
And know that the Heaven is to be joined mediately
with the Earth ; but the Form is in a middle nature
between the heaven and earth, wdiich is our water. But
the water holds of all the first place which goes forth
from this Stone ; but the second is gold ; but the third
is gold, only in a mean which is more noble than the
water and the fseces.^
ble state, Grod only is to be met with, as the law of reason proves
in its ordinary development, mucli more so in the awakening of
its objective light.
1 The fixed sulphur of adepts, according to our Scholiast, is the
true balsam of nature, which the dead bodies of the metals imbibe,
and are as it were throughly moistened with, to preserve them per-
petually from distemper and rust. The more anything abounds
with this balsam, the longer it lives and is preserved from perish-
ing. From things, therefore, abounding with a balsam of this
kind, the universal medicine is concreted, which is most effectual
to preserve human bodies in a state of health, and to root out
diseases, whether accidental or hei'editary, by propagation, re-
storing the sick to health and integrity.- — See the Scholium and
Lucerna Salis towards the end.
2 Here again we are reminded of the simplicity of the matter
worked with, and its formal light. But if, in the natural world, the
spirit is invested with multitudinous and various forms externally
introduced, it behoves the artist to extract these, therefore, and
to dissolve without destroying the continental life.
2 The two invisible poles of the Spirit are here especially sig-
nalised by Hermes, and that consummate medium which brings
them forth into manifestation. The water alluded to is the
mercurial quintessence, as it is first born in a humid and vaprous
consistency ; which being successively informed by the central
light becomes golden and aurific, comuninicating its tincture ;
128 ExoTERK View.
But in these are the smoke, the hlackness, and the
death. It behoves us, therefore, to dry away the vapour
from the water, to expel the blackness from the un-
guent, and death from the fyeces, and this by dissolu-
tion. By which means w^e attain to the highest philo-
sophy and secret of all hidden things.^
SECTION SEVENTH.
Know ye then, O sons of Science, there are seven
bodies — of which gold is the first, the most perfect,
the king of them, and their head — which neither the
earth can corinipt nor fire devastate, nor the water
change ; for its complexion is equalised, and its nature
regulated with respect to heat, cold, and moisture;
nor is there anything in it which is superfluous, there-
fore the philosophers do buoy up and magnify them-
selves in it, saying that this gold, in relation of other
bodies, is as the sun amongst the stars, more splendid
in light ; and as, by the power of God, every vegetable
and all the fi'uits of the earth are perfected, so gold
by the same power sustaineth all.^
and as fire by means of fuel increases continually, and a small
seed drawing strength and sustenance from the earth and air
grows to be a large and prolific tree ; so this wonderful being, es-
sentialised in its proper vehicle or understanding substance, is
said to increase, transmuting the catholic nature into itself.
Our gold is not common gold, says the adept, but a depurated
substance, in the highest degree perfected and brought to an
astral or heavenly complexion. This is the Elixir, Ixir, or true
Ferment tinging and fixing, and without which bodies cannot be
made pure.— See the Scholium, Lucerna Sabs, &c.
' By an artificial dissolution of the vital bond, by means of Al-
chemy, the Causal principle of nature is said to be developed into
reminiscence and to arise in the experience of the recreated life.
Modern philosophy is far removed from such investigation, nor is
it easy, perhaps, without habitual study, to conceive the possibility
of an experiment that would lead ijito such a science of nature
as the ancients propose.
'^ The gold of the philosophers, or living gold, as they some-
times call their luminous concrete, is here alluded to throughout ;
for though the dead metal also is eminently endued above other
metals with the colour of its formative virtue, yet this does
not fructify, being imprisoned, or meliorate anything beyond
The Golden Treatise. 129
For as dough, without a I'ernient, cannot be fer-
mented, so when thou subhmest the body and puri-
fiest it, separating the uncleanness from it, thou wilt
then conjoin and mix them together, and put in the
ferment confecting the earth and water. Then will
the Ixir ferment even as dough doth ferment. Think
of this, and see how the ferment in this case doth
change the former natures to another thing : observe,
also, that there is no ferment otherwise than from the
dough itself.^
Observe, moreover, that the ferment w^hitens the
confection and hinders it from burning, and holds the
tincture lest it should fly, and rejoices the bodies, and
makes them intimately to join and to enter one into
another, and this is the Key of the philosophers and
the end of their w ork ; and by this science bodies are
meliorated and the operation of them, God assist-
ing, is consummate.^
itself. But as the solar luminary is the luediuiu that perfects all
sublunary nature, subliming by his beams of light and heat, so
does our soul of gold, writes the Scholiast, which is the true au-
rific principle, even as a medium, perfect all the other seven bodies ;
i. e. to signify here, according to Hermes, the inferior spheres of
vitality in which it moves For though the virtues of the philoso-
pher's gold ai'e manifold, when applied to external nature, restor-
ing her energies, and converting her circumferential manifestations
into their central whole conditionedly, yet these things are not so
much denoted in the paragraph which refers to the spontaneous
operations of the divine Law in life.
^ This is a very favourite analogy with the alchemists, and emi-
nently suggestive ; Hermes, therefore, advises us to meditate here,
that we may imbibe the principle of perfecting in our under-
standing and observe that except the paste of flour be leavened,
or any liquor receive the ferment of its own advanced virtue, it
will not be exalted ; but die and corrupt in the inferior elements of
its nature. See the Scholium and Basil A^alentine's Chariot of
Antimony throughout, and the Stone of Fire.
^ In saying that the ferment whitens the confection, our
author may be thought to contradict what has been before stated ;
but he only confounds the order of his instruction, retrograding
at the latter end, for the fermentive light is indeed white before
the multiplication of its internal form has rubified it, and the
silvery spirit is made manifest before the solar ray. Take the
white, clear, and dignified herb, says Maria, which grows upon
the little mountain?, grind it fresh when it is arrived at its de-
K
130 Exoteric View.
But, through negligence and a false opinion of the
matter, the operation may be perverted, as a mass of
leaven growing corrupt, or milk turned with rennet
for cheese, and musk among aromatics.'
The sure colour of the golden matter for the red,
and the nature thereof, is not sweetness ; therefore we
make of them Sericum, i. e. Ixir ; and of them we
make the enamel of which we have already w^ritten,
and with the king's seal we have tinged the clay, and
in that have set the colour of heaven which augments
the sight of them that see.-
termined hour, for iii it is the genuine body which evaporates
not, neither does it at all flee from the fire. But, after this, it is
necessary to rectify Kibric and Zibeth (the soid and spirit)
upon this body ; i. e. the two fumes which comprise and embrace
each other in the two luminaries, and to put them upon that
which softens them, which is the accomplishment of the tinctures
and spirits, the true weights of the wise : then, having ground the
whole, put it to the fire : admirable things will then be seen.
There is nothing fiu'ther required but to maintain a moderate
fiLre ; after which it is wonderful to see how, in less than an horn*,
the composition will pass from one colour to another, till it comes
to the perfect red or white : -when it does, then abate the fire and
open the vessel, and when it is cold, there will appear in it a body
clear, shining like a pearl or the colour of Mild poppy mingled with
white. It is then incerating, melting, penetrative, and one weight
of this body cast upon twelve thousand of the imperfect metal,
will convert it into gold. Behold, the concealed secret and these
two fumes are the root of the Hermetic science ; which, being of
one root, are separated, dissolved, and re-united so often until
their fermentive virtue survives the utmost efforts of art or nature
any more to decompose. — See the Scholium and Maria Practica,
and Freher's Analogy, end.
1 An unskilful artist may doubtless make errors in this art as
in any other, either in chemistry or in housewifery, without
understanding the proper method and matter of fermentation.
The remark of the mastei', therefore, needs not further illustrating.
2 The apparition of the new light to the outward qualifications
of the spirit is not welcome or sweet at first, but causes a terrifi-
cation of the whole circumferential life. The wrathfidness is
mightily exasperated by this appearance of love, says the theoso-
phist, and presseth violently to swallow it up in death ; which
actually it doth : but perceiving that no death can be therein, the
love sinketh only down, yielding up itself unto those murderous
properties for awhile and displaying among them its own loving
essentiality. Thus is found, at last, a poison to death and a pesti-
The Golden Treatise. 131
The Stone, therefore, is the most precious gold with-
out spots — evenly tempered, which neither fire, nor air,
nor water, nor earth is able to corrupt ; for it is the
Universal Ferment rectifying all things in a medium
composition, whose complexion is yellow^ and a true
citrine colour.'
The gold of the wise, boiled and well digested with
a fiery water, makes Ixir ; for the gold of the wise is
more heavy than lead, which in a temperate composi-
tion is the ferment Ixir, and contrariwise, in our in-
temperate composition, is the confusion of the whole.
leuce to liell ; for the wrathful properties are terrified at this
entering of love into them, which is coutran^ to their quality, and
renders them weak and impotent, so that they lose at length their
own will, strength, and predominance. See Freher's Analogy at
the end. By the King's seal, Hermes signifies the gnsat Law of
Light or universal reason, which is finally impressed upon the
regenerated vitality of nature.
^ This most precious Stone, are we at length to conclude then,
is Light essentialised artificially in its proper substance, and exalted
by fermentation into an immutable magnet, able to draw and to
convert the radical homogeneity of natiu-e into its own assimilative
accord ? Yet this is an ultimate promise only, and the reward of
ardent and continual toil; the art offers many intermediate benefits
by the way, alluring health, science and riches, of her mineral
stores. Our stone, says the adept, drives away and cures all
sorts of maladies whatever, and preserves any one in good health
to the last term of his life : it tinges and can change all metals
into silver and gold, even better than those which nature is accus-
tomed to produce ; and, by its means, crystals maybe transformed
into precious gems. But, if the intention be to change metals
into gold, it is requisite they shovild be first fermented wdth the
most pui'e gold; for otherwise the imperfect metals would not be
able to support its too great and supreme subtility ; but there
wovild ensue loss and damage in the projection. The imperfect
metals, also, ought to be purified, if any one will draw profit there-
from. One drachm of gold is sufficient for the fermentation in
the Eed, and one of silver for the fermentation in the A\Tiite ; and
the artist need not be at the trouble of buying gold and silver for
this fermentation, because, with one single very small part, the
tincture may be afterwards augmented more and more ; for if
this medicine be multiplied and be again dissolved and coagulated
by the water of its mercury, white or red, of which it was pre-
pared, then the tinging virtue will be augmented each time by
ten degrees perfection which may be reiterated at will. — See Lu-
cerna Salis, Kiijjiurath Amphitheat. circa finem.
\ K 2
/
132 Exoteric View.
For the work begins from the vegetable, next from
the animal, as in a hen's egg, in which is the greatest
help ; and our earth is gold, of all which we make
seriacum, which is the ferment Ixir.^
^ The seven chapters of the Golden Treatise are here concluded ;
which are a fair example of the Alchemical writings in general,
and less sophistical than many, which may be considei-ed perhaps
as a small recommendation of the rest. For, although the dis-
course is sententious, and analogies are dispersed throughout with
philosophic tact and plausibility, yet the whole is covered with an
obnoxious veil; for neither does Hermes discover the true Art,either
whence, when, or how the Matter is to be taken ; but the philo-
sophic vessel, with the whole apparatus for working the Spirit to
perfection, is wrapped up under an ambiguous disguise. It is im-
possible almost to convey an adequate idea of the extent to which
the mystification has been carried: the literature of Alchemy
has not its parallel in the entire range, but is the problem of
contradictions by excellence, as it were, framed after the pattern
of the cruel Sphinx herself ; so that the very abundant evidence
which, under other circumstances, would be advantageous, be-
comes burdensome in this inquiry, occasioning a difficulty of dis-
cretion where to believe and vindicate the true light. In these
easy reading days, too, when the fruits of science are laid open
and books are made suitable for the instruction of the " meanest
capacities," few are disposed to study for anything — even the most
lucrative gain — still fewer wiU there be found of a mind ready
to exert itself about the traditionary report of bygone wisdom.
"We had not ourselves, thus singly without modern precedent,
ventured within the confines of this magic wild, but for the theo-
retic promise of possibility held out ; having observed also much
of the doctrines and tangled enigmas to unfold and arrange them-
selves slowly, yet in peculiar order, by the leading of a certain
experimental clue. By this we hope to point out, as we discern
them, the disjecta membra long since mangled and concealed
there, and to discover the abode, at least, of that queenly Isis who
is alone able to gather them together into the beauty and perfec-
tion of their original form.
PART II.
A MORE ESOTERIC CONSIDERATION OF THE
HERMETIC ART AND ITS MYSTERIES.
The True Subject. 135
CHAPTER I.
Of the True Subject of the Hermetic Art, and its
concealed Root.
Opus vobiscum et apud vos est, quod intus arripiens et per-
manens in terra vel in mare habere potes.
Tractatus Aureus, cap. i.
HITHERTO we have regarded this mystic laby-
rinth of Alchemy from without, considering
the superficial scheme only ; before we enter, it may
be well to offer the consenting reader our clue, lest,
observing merely our indirect and sudden outset, he
suppose the way mistaken, and losing faith accord-
ingly, should decline to pass on with us further towards
the end.
For the paths through which we would conduct
him are dark, intricate, lonely, and in a measure fear-
ful ; far receding, and out of reach of this outer day-
light, with all its corporeal witnesses and scenes. Nor
has the way become smoother from being so long a
while untrodden. We shall have to thread many wind-
ings, to pass round and through thick tangles of doubt
and overgrown prejudice, which time has accumulated
and thrown up together at the gates ; before we can
hope to enter the sanctuary of our Minerva, much
less behold the sacred light which burns there before
her pure presence for ever, refulgent and still.
No modern art or chemistry, notwithstanding all
its surreptitious claims, has any thing in common
to do with Alchemy, beyond the borrowed terms,
which were made use of in continuance chiefly to
veil the latter; not from any real relation, either of
matter, method, or practical result. For though aqua
136 More Ksoteric View.
fortis and aqua regia seem to dissolve metals, and
many salts be Ibund useful in analysis, and fire for the
tearing in pieces of bodies ; yet nothing vitally altera-
tive is achieved, unless the vital force be present and
in action. But modern art drives out, in fact, the
very nature which the ancients prized ; distilling and
dissecting superficies, harassing for ever, without the
more evolving any true cause : and then some con-
clude, summarily, there is no cause, just because their
notion of experience and method of experimenting are
superficial and essentially atheistic.
The pseudo Alchemists dreamed of gold, and impos-
sible transformations, and worked with sulphur, mer-
cury, and salt of the mines, torturing all species, dead
and living, in vain, without rightly divining the true
Identity of nature ; the means they employed were
from literal readings of receipts ; they had no theory
whereby to direct their research, and making trial of
nature, as if she were a thing of chance, by chance,
found nothing. Some fe\y, of superior imagination to
these, who had glimpses of the Universal Subject, en-
deavoured to draw light iiito the focus of their vessels,
to compress and entice the ether by magnetical dispo-
sition and attractions of various kinds ; but their
hopes too were vaguely based, there was no Wisdom in
their magistery, being ignorant of that internal fire and
vessel of the adepts, so essential to the accomplish-
ment of the Hermetic work. For how hardly should
tliey divine without instruction, or interpret the dark
hieroglyphic seal ?
It is declared, in the ancient book of Tobit, to be
honourable to reveal the woi-ks of the Lord ; but good
to keep close the secret of a king: and the old adepts,
as if emulous of the sacred ordinance, whilst they
display all the grandeur and abundant riches of his
monarchy, make little or no mention of the king at
all. And whilst the light has remained so .long under
the bushel of ignorance, with the Divine Wisdom under
the bark of the Law, it is deplorable to think how
manv worthy and truth-loving intellects have Ian-
The True Subject. 137
guished and perished for lack of knowledge ; know-
ledge too that is attainable, since it has been attained.
For their few sakes, w^e now wTite therefore, and feel
emboldened to hazard evidence of the forbidden truth ;
and without, we trust, transgressing the spirit of the
prophet's advice, it may be allow^ed to lay open the
regalia so far as shall induce inquiry, and a more re-
spectful consideration than heretofore.
The inquiries hitherto made by us, concerning the
physical basis of the Hermetic Science, have helped to
identify it with a matter now, at best, hypothetical! y
conceived of only, since the means of proving it are
unknown, and the obscure instructions of the ancients
concerning the nature of their conceptive vehicle, has
caused incalculable error and confusion ; and though
the days of gross credulity have passed away, and a
more wide-spread education has helped to awaken the
common sense of mankind to a perception of the im-
probable and ridiculous in most things, yet other ob-
stacles supervene, as great, if not more obnoxious to
the pursuit of causal science. The human mind, in-
deed, has been so long unaccustomed truly to know
anything, or even think of, much less investigate, its
own intrinsical phenomena, that to speak of them at
the present time may subject us to every imputation
of error and presumption. And why ? A barren pe-
riod has supervened ; and man has no longer any ex-
perience in the life of Wisdom, nor yet surmises the
virtue that is in him, to prove and magnify the Uni-
versal Source. Yet that was the foundation of the
whole Hermetic magistery, w^hence it is said, that if
the wise had not found a proper vessel in which to con-
coct it, the etherial corner-stone would never have
been brought to light. This Hali declares, and M^- O
rien, and Albert, saying, that the place is the prin-
ciple also of the supernatural generation ; and Hermes,
vas philosophorum est aqua eorum ; but they do not
openly reveal either, as Maria concludes in her admo-
nition.— Philosophers have spoken sufficiently of all
that is necessary concerning the work, with excep-
138 More Esoteric View.
tion of the vessel ; which is a divine secret, hidden from
idolators, and without this knowledge no one can at-
tain to the magistery.^
Thus it appears to have been a rehgious principle
with the ancients, to w'ithhold the means of proving
their philosophy from an incapable and reckless world ;
and if any by hazard, less prudent or envious than the
rest, alluded oj)enly in his writings either to the con-
cealed vessel or art of vital ministration, his reveal-
ment was instantly annulled by false or weakening
commentaries, or as quickly as possible withdrawn by
means not the less sure, because hidden from the
w^orld. Of the former expedient w^e have a notable
example in Scndivogius, who, towards the conclusion
of his treatises, referring to the honest Hermit Mo-
rien's advice to KingCalid, — Hsec enim r^exteextra-
hitur — This matter, O king, is extracted from thee —
endeavours to draw attention off from it, by inveigling
the reader into a doubt artfully raised about some gold
found sticking between a dead man's teeth.- Such
instances are not rare, and it has been found easy by
such similar equivocations, without absolute denial, to
protect from foolish and profane intrusion that living
temple wherein alone the wise of all ages have been
securely able to raise their rejected Corner Stone and
Ens of Light.
When, however, the writings of Jacob Bbhme ap-
peared in Germany, some century and a half ago, the
Alchemists who lived at that period, write as if they
supposed their art could little longer remain a secret ;
a similar alarm had previously arisen amongst certain
Rosicrucians about the books of Agrippa and Para-
celsus' disciples, and in both instances because those
great theosophists spoke openly, applying the practice
of Alchemy to human life ; suggesting also, as did the
' See JMaria Practica — iu fine — Ludus Puerorum de A'ase sive
ovo Philin. in quo lapis iioster ponendus est ut igne et arte per-
ficiatur. — Artis Aurifer;Ti>, vol. ii. p. 115. Morieni de Trans. Metal.
Interrog. et Eesp. p. 27.
'^ See New Light of Alchemy, concluding chapter.
The True Subject. 139
latter, the method and medium of attraction. For,
notwithstanding these, in common with the rest, teach
that the Mercurial Spirit is everywhere, and to be
^ound in all things according to the nature of each,
yet they do not so much profess to have sought for it
in many things, or that it may with equal advantage
be drawn forth from all ; since it is neither apt to be-
come universal of its own accord, or in every Form of
virtue sufficient for the Hermetic work. Therefore,
say they, the best and noblest ought to be chosen to
operate with, unless the searcher proposes to waste
labour and ingenuity without obtaining his desired
end. Besides, to search out the identity through all
creatures and minerals, by way of experiment, would
seem to be a matter of no small difficulty, if we must
needs investigate each ; but if one subject should be
presented which contains all, and the comprehension
of each subordinate form in a superior essence, then
this one needs only to be investigated for the discovery
of all. But the universal orb of the earth, adds the
Moorish philosopher, contains not so great mysteries
and excellences as Man reformed by God into his
image ; and he that desires the primacy amongst the
students of nature, will nowhere find a greater or
better reserve to obtain his desire than in himself, who
is able to draw^ to himself the Central Salt of nature
in abundance, and in his regenerate Wisdom possess-
eth all things, and with this light can unlock the
most hidden and recluse mysteries of nature.^ As
Agrippa, moreover, testifies, that the soul of man, being
estranged from the corporeal senses, adheres to a divine
nature, from which it receives those things which it
cannot search into by its own powder ; for when the
mind is free, the reins of the body being loosed and
going forth, as out of a close prison, it transcends the
bonds of the members, and, nothing hindering, being
stirred up in its proper essence, comprehends all
things. And therefore man was said to be the express
^ CVntruni jVaturse Concpiitratuni, page 40, &c.
140 More Esoteric View.
Image of God, seeing he contains the Universal Reason
within himself, and has a corporeal simihtude also with
all, operation wdth all, and conversation with all. But
he symbolises with matter in a proper subject ; with
the elements in a fourfold body ; with plants in a vege-
table virtue ; with animals in a sensitive faculty ; w4th
the heavens in an etherial spirit and influx of the su-
perior parts upon the inferior ; with the angelical sphere
in understanding and wdsdom, and with God in all.
He is preserved with God and the intelligences by
faith and wnsdom ; with celestial things by reason and
discourse ; with all inferior things by sense and do-
minion ; and acts with all, and has power on all, even
on God Himself, continues the magician, by knowing
and loving Him. And as God knoweth all things, so
man, knowing Him, also can know all things, seeing
he has for an adequate object Being in general,
or, as some say. Truth itself: neither is there any-
thing found in man, nor any disposition in which
something of divinity may not shine forth ; neither is
there anything in God which may not also be re-
presented in man. Whosoever, therefore, shall know
himself, shall know all things in himself: but especially
he shall know^ God, according to whose image he was
made; he shall know the world, the resemblance of
which he beareth ; he shall know all creatures with
which in essence he symboliseth, and what comfort he
can have and obtain from stones, plants, animals,
elements ; from spirits, angels, and everything ; and
how all things may be fitted for all things, in their
time, place, order, measure, proportion, and harmony;
even how he can draw and bring them to himself as a
loadstone, iron.^
And this the adept, Sendivogius, moreover declares :
That Nature, having her proper light, is by the shadowy
body of sense, hidden from our eyes ; but if, says he,
the light of nature doth enlighten any one, presently
the cloud is taken away from before his eyes, and with-
^ Occult Philosophy, book iii. chap, xxxvi. and xlvi.
The True Subject. 141
out any let, he can behold the point of our loadstone,
answering to each centre of the beams, (viz. of the
sun and moon philosophical,) for so far doth the light
of nature penetrate and discover inward things ; the
body of man is a shadow of the seed of nature, and
as man's body is covered with a garment, so is man's
nature covered with the body. Man was created of
the earth, and lives by virtue of the air ; for there is
in the air a secret food of life, whose invisible con-
gealed spirit is better than the whole world. Oh,
holy and wonderful nature ! which knowest how to pro-
duce wonderful fruits by water, out of the earth and
from the air to give them life ! The eyes of the wise
look upon nature otherwise than the eyes of common
men. The most high Creator, having been wiUing to
manifest all natural things to man, hath even showed
us that celestial things themselves were naturally
made ; by which his absolute power and wisdom might
be so much the better known ; all which things the
philosophers in the light of nature, as in a looking-
glass, have a clear sight of; for which cause they es-
teemed this art of Alchemy, viz., not so much out of
covetousness for gold or silver, but for the knowledge
sake ; not only of all natural things, but also of the
power of the Creator. But they are willing to speak
of these things sparingly only, and figuratively, lest
those divine mysteries, by which nature is illustrated,
should be discovered to the unworthy ; which thou, if
thou knowest hoiv to know thyself, and art not of a stiff
neck, may est easily comprehend who art created after
the likeness of the great world, yea after the image of
God. Thou hast in thy body the anatomy of the
whole world, and all thy members answer to some
celestials; let, therefore, the searcher of this Sacred
Science know that the soul in man, the lesser world or
microcosm, substituting the place of its centre, is the
king, and is placed in the vital spirit in the purest
blood. That governs the mind, and the mind the
body ; but this same soul, by which man differs from
other animals and which operates in the body, govern-
142 More Esoteric View.
ing all its motions, hath a far greater operation out of
the body, because out of the body it absolutely reigns
CUaA^ — in this respect, it differs from the life of other creatures
which have only spirit and not the soul of Deity.'
Such arc the distinctive assertions of one esteemed
an adept by his cotemporaries, and who professes to
ground them also on his own manual experience in
the proto-chemistry of Hermes. And, whether they be
entirely credited or not, these may help to elucidate
the words of Trismegistus, where, in the first chapter
of the Golden Treatise, he says, — that the work is both
in us and about us ; and that the whole magistery is
Q comprehended in the hidden elements of his Wisdom.'^
^ And Geber\ in the same sense, where he declares that
he who in /limse if knows not natural principles, is very
remote from this sacred science, because he has not
the true root in him whereon to base his labour and
intention.'^ Observe, therefore, and take heed, says
Basil, that all metals and minerals have one root from
whence their descent is ; he that knows t/iat rightly
needs not to destroy metals in order to extract the
spirit from one, the sulphur from another, or salt from
another ; for there is a nearer place yet in which these
three, viz., the mercury, salt, and sulphur — spirit, body
and soul — lie hid together in one thing, well known,
and whence they may with great praise be gotten. He
that knows exactly this golden seed or magnet, and
searcheth throughly into its properties, he hath the
true root of life, and may attain to that which his
heart longs for; wherefore I intreat, continues the
monk, all true lovers of mineral science, and sons of
art, diligently to inquire after this metallic seed, or
root, and be assured that it is not an idle chimera or
dream, but a real and certain truth. ^
It was from such an internal intimacy, and central
searching of the mystery, that the Paracelsian Crollius
» New Light of Alchemy, pp. 32, 40, 102.
'^ Tract, Aur. cap. i. & ii.
•'' Sum of Perf. book i.
■* See the Stoue of Fire, Kircliriiigius. Ed. Webster's Hist, of
Minerals, p. 9, the Extract.
The True Subject. 143
tells us lie came to know that the same light and
mineral vapour, which produces gold within the bowels
of the earth is also in man, and that the same is the
generating spirit of all creatures.' And Albertus
Magnus, in his book of Minerals, after asserting that
gold may be found everywhere, in the final analysis of
every natural thing, concludes by showing that the
highest mineral virtue nevertheless resides in man ; for
fire, which is the true aurific principle in the life of all,
burns more than all glorious in him erect. — Our
Mercury is philosophic, fiery, vital — which may be
mixed with all metals and again be separated from
them ; it is prepared in the innermost chamber of life,
and there it is coagulated, as the Hermetic phrase runs,
and where metals grow there they may be found. ^
Remember how man, ys most noble creature
In Erth's composycion that ever Grod wrought,
In whom are the fowre elements proportyonyd by nature,
A naturall mercuiyalyte w-hych cost ryglit nought,
Out of hys myner by arte yt most be brought ;
Tor our mettalls be noiight ells but myners too,
Of our Soon and Moone, wyse Reymond sevd so.^
And though the philosophers have chosen to say
little about it, on account of the shortness of life, and
the length of this work, as Maria says, yet they
themselves found out these hidden elements, and
themselves increased them. And thou, oh, Man, cries
the Arabian Alipili, even thou art he who through the
breath and power of the watej- and earth in thyself,
conjoinest the elements and makest them one ; and
thyself not knowing what a treasure thou hast hidden
in thee, from the coagulation and consent of these
powers, producest an essence, called, by us, the expert,
the great and miraculous mystery of the world ; that is
the true fiery water. — Eschva may'im, Erascha maijim,
yea, it surmounts in its power, the fire, air, earth and
water ; for it dissolves radically, incrudates even the
^ CroUius' Philosophy Reformed, p. 105.
2 Tract. Aureus. Text et Scholium, cap. i.
^ Ripley's Admonition of Erroneous Experiments.
144 More Esoteric View.
/ mature, constant, and very fixed, tiery and abiding
^S/ mass and matter of gold, and reduc^^ it into a fat
/ black earth, like to thick spittle ; wherein we find a
water and the true salt destitute of all odor, vehemency,
and corrosive nature of the fire : there is nothing in
the whole world besides to be found which can do this ;
to which nothing is shut ; and though it is a precious
thing, more precious than everything, yet the poor as
well as the rich may have it in the same equal plenty.
The wise men have sought this thing, and the wise
men have found it.^
And it behoves him, therefore, who would be intro-
duced to this hidden Wisdom, says Hermes, to quit
himself from the usurpations of vice, to be good and
just and of a profound reason, ready at hand to help
mankind ; for these subtle chemical secrets may never
be handled by the idle or vicious unbelievers of these
matters in which they are only ignorant, who, being
destitute of light, defile by an evil imagination the
very Spirit that ought to be refined. — Omne Aurum
est ses, sed non omne ees est aurum : — and the true
phj^sician, according toCroUius (whom Paracelsus calls
a natural divine) is true, sincere, intelligent, faithful ;
and being well exercised in the vital analysis of bodies,
knows that there is no constant quality of any body
^vhich is not to be found in the salt, mercury, and
sulphur thereof.^ And these three principles of attrac-
tion, repulsion, and circulation, the universal accord of
life, are everywhere and in all.
Blood contaiueth the three tilings I have told,
And in his tincture hath nature of gold :
AVithout gold, no metal may sliine bright ;
Without blood no body hath light :
So doth the greater and less world still
Hold the cii'cle according to God's will.
Blood hath true proportion of th' elements foure,
And of the three parts spoke of before ;
For blood is the principle matter of each thing,
Which hath any luauuer of increasing.
' Centrum Naturae Concentratum, pp. 80, 81.
' Phil. Eeform. pp. 25, 95. Tract. Aureus, cap. ii.
The True Subject. 145
The true blood to find without labour or cost,
Thou knowest where to have it, or thy wits be lost ;
Seek out the noblest, as I said before,
And now of the Matter, I dare say no more.^
Or, what more shall I say? (asks Morien, empha-
tically, discoursing ^\Ai\\ the Arabian monarch about
the confection of the Stone, and after showing the dis-
tinctive supremacy of man in nature.) The thing, O
king, is extracted from thee, in the which mineral
thou dost even exist ; with thee it is found ; by thee
it is received ; and when thou shalt have proved
all by the love and delight in thee, it will increase ;
and thou wilt know that I have spoken an enduring
truth.2
Although few write so clearly to the purpose as
those we have selected, yet the more modern class of
adepts have in general left hints and suggestions to
the same effect ; they describe the life of man, as by
their Art revealed, to be a pure, naked, and unmingled
fire of infinite capability, differing from that of the
prone creatures in form, educability, and capacity for
melioration in itself. And though it might be sup-
posed, according to the alleged diffusion of the Matter,
that, if the Art of separating it were known, it might be
taken anywhere (which in part also is true) yet we
may consider the object was not simply to obtain the
Matter or prove it only, but to improve, perfect, and
bring the Causal light to manifestation. And in what
our human circulatory system differs and occultly ap-
proximates, so that it can be made to comprehend all
inferior existences, and supersede nature in her course,
may be gathered from this philosophy; and many rea-
sons are given why the most noble subject was chosen,
and this only vessel for its elaboration. The foregoing
evidence, however, without more defence at present,
may help to lead on the inquiry to a more explicit
ground.
1 Theat. Chem. Britt. p. 405.
- De Transm. ^fetal. Artis Auriferap, vol. i. end.
L
146 More Esoteric View.
Attraction is the first principle of motion in nature ;
this is generally admitted, but the origin of this uni-
versal attraction is occult and incomprehensible to the
ordinary human understanding. Repulsion is the se-
cond principle, and a necessary consequence of the
first by reaction. Circulation is the third principle,
proceeding from the conflict of the former two.
All motion is derived from this threefold source in
its reciprocal relations, which are diversified according
to its qualifications with the matter. The attraction,
repulsion, and circulation in the sun and stars move
the planets in their orbits ; the same principle in each
globe performs the rotation on its axis, and the satel-
lites partake the same motion from their primaries.
Every quantity of matter, solid, fluid, or gaseous, when
separated from the rest by its quality or discontinuity,
is possessed individually by the same principles, how-
ever infinite the variety of substances, natural or arti-
ficial, great or small ; vegetable and animal forms and
motions are no less evidences of these three principles
than the heavenly and earthly bodies. Hence chemical
affinity, called Elective Attraction, is ruled by the same
laws ; and it is found that when two matters unite, one
is attractive and the other repulsive ; when either at-
traction or repulsion predominates in a matter, the
circulation is in ellipse ; but when they are in equili-
brium, a circle is produced. Repulsion, being pro-
duced in its origin by attraction, equals it, as reaction
equals action : but in nature one principle is everij-
where more latent or inert, or weaker than another ;
and there are degrees accordingly, in which either
predominates in external manifestation ; hence the
different degrees of natural affinity for union. There
are also degrees of strength, fi'om harshness to mild-
ness, and in the operation of the Three Principles, from
the compaction of a hard rock to the loose adherence
of the particles of a globule of mercury or dew, from
explosion to expansion, and from a violent whirling
motion to a gentle evolution. But the medium is al-
ways in the circulation produced from the action and
The True Subject. 147
reaction of centrifugal and centripetal forces, and the
equality of these forms a circle, as was before observed,
and which labours to harmonize the conflict of these
two, and will succeed if the matter be duly quahfied
for it.
But, according to the Alchemists, there is but One
Matter truly qualifiable or capable of qualifying matter
to be harmonized in this way, since nature has fallen
off from her original balance, and the wheel of human
life runs forth, deviating from its axis, into a line which
terminates finally in dissolution ; which nothing but
their Antimonial Spirit rectified by Art, being in bright
lines of equal attraction and repulsion, as it were a
perfect magnet in a star-like circle of irradiated circu-
lation, can contrariate or withstand.^
And the agent in the preparation of this spirit, con-
tinues Bohme, is the Invisible Mercury, and no
process can finally fail where the invisible, universal
Mercury, or spiritual air of Antimony, is present, con-
densed in its proper vehicle in any of the degrees of
permanency; and the Principle of its operation consists
in the power of harmonizing the three discordant prin-
ciples of Attraction, Rtpidsion, and Circulation^ I A»€t o-aj^
this in the vital spirit of the arterial blood, where the
universal principles are in their natural generation un-
equally composed : the repulsive force so far predo-
minating over the interior attraction, that the total
circulatory life is expulsive, and drawn without to a
debilitated consciousness away from its First Cause.
Which inverse order of relationship and vital ignorance
it is the object of the Hermetic art to remedy, and, by
occultation of the opposive principle, to restore the
true rector to his original rule. Sanguinem urinamque
pariter dat nobis natura, et ab horum natura salem dat
Pyrotechnia, quem circulat ars in salem circulatum
Paracelsi. Hoc addam : sang-uinis salem per urinaceum
1 See Jacob Bohme on tlie Generation of the Three Prin-
ciples.
2 Idem, see Phillips's Lives of the Alchemists, p. 294, &c.
L 2
148 More Esoteric View.
fermentum sic transmutari debere, ut ultimam vitam
amittat, mediamque servet, salsedinemque retineat.^
Si fixum solvas faciasque volare solutum
Et volucrem figas, faciunt te vivere tutum
Solve, Coagula, Fige.
This know, therefore, says Hermes, that except
thou understandest how to mortify and induce genera-
tion, to vivify the Spirit, to cleanse and introduce
Light, until they fight and contend with each other,
and grow white and freed from their defilements,
rising, as it were, from blackness and darkness, thou
knowest nothing, nor canst perform anything ; but if
thou knowest this, thou shalt be of a great dignity.^
All which our modern exponent, further illustrating
the Hermetic process, confirms. For, in three months'
circulation, says he, by digestion, the powder becomes
completely black, the opposition of attraction and re-
pulsion ceases (in the vital spirit), and the attraction
of the fixed which produced the repulsion of the
volatile, is slain by the circulation which also dies it-
self, and all three enter into rest. Then there is no
more compression or expansion, ascent or descent, but
the action and reaction have, by the equiUbriate radia-
tion of forces and the subtlety of the spirit, formed a
circulation which has consumed all discordant opposi-
tion, and sunk down black and motionless. And thus
the head of Hermes' crow is said to be in the beginning
of this work ; that which at first was fixed, viz. the
sentient medium, is dissolved, and by the same process
more profoundly operating, the original evil is made
manifest in the matter to be renewed, and hence the
principle of amendment and rectification also will ap-
pear, and on either side it is a signal of Art.
The same Three Principles gradually assume a new
life, continues Bohme, infinitely more powerful in
virtue, but without any violent contest, and in three
1 Arcanum Liquaris Alkahest Eesp. 76, 78.
'^ Tract. Aur. cap. ii.
The True Subject. 149
months farther, the mild action of the principles in
harmony have produced a brilHant whiteness in the
matter, which in three months more become a bril-
liant yellow, red, or purpling tincture. — Approach, ye
sons of Wisdom, and rejoice ; let us now rejoice toge-
ther, for the reign of sin is finished, and the king doth
rule, and now he is invested with the red garment, and
now the scarlet colour is put on.^
That was the process of working with the Vital Spirit,
so often reiterated by Hermes, Democritus, and the
rest before cited, which also is many times passed
through for the practical accomphshment. But every
other matter labours for this perfection in vain ; it can
only attain to combustion, heat, and temporary light,
and the consumption of the common elements in their
analysis is a separation into gas and ashes ; but this
mystical nature revives, fortified from every successive
dissolution, renewing its Whole resolutely from either
extreme by union. This Spirit is so full of life, says
the adept, that if the process fails in any stage, an ad-
dition of the same will renew it. The white or red
powder is increased tenfold in strength and quantity by
each digestion of it with fresh antimony in powder, wet
with gas water, or oil of this antimony, and each di-
gestion is made in tenfold shorter time than the pre-
ceding, from a week to a few hours. For this gold is / .
endued with a magnetical virtue, which, by the in- (yns<6<ss-a
spi/ate fulgor of its tincture, draws the divine increase
after it ; in which nature expends all her forces, but
leaves the victory to Art, which, by graduation to the
full height, adds to the natural effulgence a superna-
tural light ; for what else but light should multiply ?
Whence it has been called likewise the terrestrial or
Microcosmic Sun, the triumphal Chariot of Antimony
turned swiftly upon the current wheel of life ; and this
is the Stone of Fire seen in bright lines, of equal attrac-
tion and repulsion, when made manifest, as it were, an
armed magnet included and circulating in a perpetual
' Tract. Aur. cap. iii.
zt
150 More Esoteric View.
heaven.^ Know now, therefore, and consider, says
Basil Valentine, that this true tincture of Antimony,
which is the medicine of men and metals, is not made
of crude melted antimony, such as the apothe-
caries and merchants sell, but is extracted from the
t)ae mineral, as it is taken from the mountains ; and
how that extraction should be made, is a principal se-
cret in which the whole art of Alchemy consists.
Health, riches, and honour attend him who rightly
attains it. — Lapis noster inter duos monticulos nascitur;
in te et in me et in nostri similibus latet.^ And when
the mechanical part of the Three Principles passes into
the hands of its proper manufacturers equally and
generally in all countries, concludes Bohme, then
will the school of adepts come out from its captivity,
and will find their proper level as true physicians for
the body and soul, dispensing the leaves of life for the
healing of the nations. But now the Seal of God
lieth before it, to conceal the true ground, unless a
man knew for certain that it would not be misused ;
for there is no power to obtain it, no art or skill
availeth, unless one intrust another with somewhat (as
Hermes and Arnold bear witness) ; yet the Work is
easy and simple, but the Wisdom therein is great and
the greatest mystery.^
' Aurum ex se virtutein magiieticam habet, quae cor huraanum
fulgore splendente tincturiu suse traliit, in qua iiatura omnes A'ires
Biias impeiidit, reservata tamen artis iudustrisD victoria, ut per
graduationem supremain, quam splendori naturali adjungit, in-
iiuite earn superare possit, uudc et nomen solis terrestris acqui-
sivit. Artista igitur labore suo colorem aureum (in cujus pretioso
opere perficiendo natura vires suas omnes impendit) usque ad
summuni gradiim ruboris obscuri exaltat, qua augmentatione
metalla imperfecta in certa quantitate, ratione gradus naturalis
per projectionem tinctura^ hujus artiticialis altiCis asceudunt et
colorautur, eo ipso monstrans, quod color iste aureus per naturaui
in aurum introductus tautilm via aliqua sit ad rubidinem in qua
coniplectio perfectse virtutis ad conservandum et multiplicaudum
jacet — Tractatus de Yero Sale, Nuysement, p. 164.
2 Triumphal Chariot of Antimony, by Kirchringius, English
edition, p. 146. M. Dunstaui Tract. Secret, in init.
2 See Bcihme's Epistles, and early part of tlie Forty Questions,
The True Subject. 151
The greatest mystery of all is in Existence, and the
only mystery ; and as fire and light are one and every-
where perceived after the same manner, so is life in
ever}'^ particular the same inscrutable Identity through
all. Or does a vast and filled creation hang before
our eyes, and we think it to be without a founda-
tion ? Do we ourselves exist and consciously breathe,
denying a mystery ; or rather, admitting this, does any-,^T7v£y
doubt that it is discoverable? Does not everything
imply a necessary cause, and is not each sustained
still living in the same ? and is it not absurd to sup-
pose that we are entirely depending on externals, or
that being in part self-dependent, we are so far de-
pending on nothing? If, therefore, we contain within
us a proper principle of being, why should not this,
thus proximate, be known ? Behold, says the apostle,
He is not far off from every one of us ; for in Him we
live, and move, and have ourbeing. — And again, to those
forgetful Athenians, — God made man to the end that he
should seek the Lord, if haply he might feel after him
and find him.^ And is not this a promise worth the
certifying, an end worthy to be sought out, to feel and
know God? Seek and ye shall find, knock and it
shall be opened unto you ; yet it remains hidden still :
and that Philalethean Welshman, Vaughan, indeed
advises that we give ourselves no trouble about these
mysteries, or attempt to dabble in the subtle philo-
sophy of Wisdom, until we have a knowledge of the
Protochemic Artifice ; for that by means of this, and
this only, the true foundation is discoverable, and
without it nothing can be intrinsically understood. It
were a foolish presumption, he observes, if a lapidary
should undertake to state the value or lustre of a
jewel that is shut up, before he opens the cabinet ; yet
men will presume to judge of invisible celestial things,
which are shut up within the closet of matter, and all
and his Discourse of the Three Principles before referred to, con-
taining passages to the same effect.
' Acts xvii. 27, 28.
152 More Esoteric View.
the while perusing the outside which is the crust of
nature. But I advise them to use their hands and not
their fancies, and to change their abstractions into ex-
tractions ; for verily as long as they lick the shell
after their fashion, and pierce not experimentally into
the centre of things, they can do no otherwise than
they have done ; they cannot know things intrin-
sically, but only describe them by their outward effects
and motions, which are subject and obvious to every
common eye. Let them consider, therefore, that there
is in nature a certain Spirit which applies himself to
the matter, and actuates in every generation ; that
there is also a passive intrinsical principle where he is
more immediately resident than in the rest, and by
mediation of which he communicates with the more
gi'oss material parts. For there is in nature a certain
chain or subordinate propinquity of complexions be-
tween visibles and invisibles, and this is it by which
the superior spiritual essences descend and converse
here below with the matter. But, he continues, have
a care lest you misconceive me. I speak not in this
place of the divine spirit, but 1 speak of a certain
. Art by which a Particular Spirit may he united to the
^t^a/^eJ^" Universal; and nature by conse(juence be ^trtmgiy- ex-
/ (/ alted and luultiplied} And Agrippa speaks yet more
specifically to this point, where, in the third book of
his Occult Philosophy, he declares (calling x\puleius
also to witness) that by a certain mysterious recreation
and appeasing, the human mind, especially that which
is simple and pure, may be converted and laid asleep
from its present life so utterly as to be brought into
its divine nature, and become enlightened with the
divine light, and withal receive the virtue of some
wonderful effects.^
Both these passages are in allusion to the art of
Alchemy ; and this, persists Agrippa, is that which I
would have you know ; because in us is the Operator
of all wonderful effects ; who know how to discern
' Auima Magia Abscoudita, pp. 10, 11.
- Book iii. cap. slviii.
The True Subject. 153
and to effect, and that without any sin or offence to
God, whatsoever the monstrous mathematicians, the
prodigious magicians, the envious alchemists, and be-
witching necromancers can do by spirits, in us, I say,
is the Operator of miracles.
Not the bright stars of the skie, nor flames of hell,
But the Spirit begetting all doth in us dwell. ^
How many earnest and curious books there have
been written relative to the powers of magic and trans-
formations by spells, talismans, and circumstantial
conjurations of all sorts, which, taken according to the
letter, are ridiculous without the key. But the re-
cords of Alchemy are, above all, calculated to mislead
those who have gone abroad thoughtlessly seeking for
that perfection which was to be found only by experi-
mentally seeking at home within themselves.
Quid mirum noseere mundum
Si possunt homines, quibus est et mundus in ipsis /
Exemplumque Dei quisquis^est in imagine parva?^ -^y
Man then, shall we conclude at length, is the true la-
boratory of the Hermetic art; his life the subject, the
grand distillatory, the thing distilling and the thing dis-
tilled, and Self-Knowledge to be at the root of all Al-
chemical tradition ? Or, is any one disappointed at such
a conclusion, imagining ditficulties, or that the science
is impracticable because it is humanly based? — or some
may possibly think the pursuit dangerous, or inexpe-
dient, or unprofitable, scientific investigation having
been so long and successfully carried on in every ad-
verse direction ? Behold we invite not the unwilling,
nor will these studies be found to reward the sordid
seeker after riches or gold only ; such may find better
employ and easier emolument from the abundant offer-
ing of the precious metal upon earth, nor do we anti-
cipate that many will in the present day be attracted
to our goal.
^ Epistle to Trithemius at the end.
' Manilius Astronomicon, lib. x.
154 More Esoteric View.
Yet, notwithstanding so much scepticism and the
slm' which ignorance has cast now for centuries upon
every early creed and philosophy, modern discoveries
tend evermore to reprove the same ; identifying hght,
as the common vital sustenant, to be in motive accord
throughout the human circulatory system with the
planetary spheres and harmonious dispositions of the
occult medium in space ; and as human physiology
advances with the other sciences in unison, the notion
of our natural con-espondency enlarges, proving things
more and more minutely congruous, until at length,
the conscious relationship would seem to be almost
only wanting to confirm the ancient tradition and
lead into its full faith. Yet on no ground with
which we are now actually acquainted could it be
proved that man is a perfect microcosm, wherein, as
it was said, the great world and all its creatures
might be summarily discerned: we have no evidence
of any such thing ; our affinities with external nature
are bounded in sense, and our knowledge of her inte-
gral operations is proportionally defective. All that
we do know is learned by observation, and w^e should
be hardly induced, from anything we are commonly
conversant with, to conclude that Self-Knowledge
would be a way to the knowledge of the Universal Na-
ture, Yet this was taught and believed formerly, not
either as if it were an arbitrary conceit, but as a truth
understood and proved beyond speculation.
It may ^c well to observe, however, and lest mis-
understanding should at all arise in this respect, that
it is not so much with reference to physical particulars,
either to the perfection of his bodily constitution, or
because he is composed of the four elements, that
man was formerly distinguished; for these other animals
and vegetables even partake, and often in a superior
degree; but it was rather on account of a Divine Reason,
an occult principle of Causal Efficience, said to be ori-
ginally resident in his life, that man was made to rank
so high in the cabalistic scriptures and schools of
antique experience. And here we remark the outer
The True Subject. 155
body, mentioned indeed, yet as amongst the last of
things accordant ; nevertheless it is nearly all we are
now able to observe ; as, of the rest, the Universal
Reason so magnified and its ethereal vehicle, very mea-
gre evidence is afforded to the senses or this life. Yet
man, say they, is demonstrated to be a compendium
of the whole created nature, and was generated to be-
come wise and have a dominion over the whole of
things ; having within him, besides those faculties
whicii he exerts ordinarily and by which he judges and
contemplates sensible phenomena, ^^^^fe the germ of a
higher faculty or Wisdom, which, when revealed and
set alone, all the forms of things and hidden springs
of nature become intuitively known and are implied
essentially. This Being, moreover, or Faculty of Wis-
dom, is reputed so to subsist with reference to nature
as her substratal source, that it works magically
withal, discovering latent properties as a principle, go-
verning and supplying all dependent existence ; and
of this they speak magisterially, as if in alliance they
had known the Omniscient Nature and, in their own
ilhiminated understanding, the structure of the uni-
verse.
Now if it be true that such an experience was ever
granted to man on earth, it is now either wholly de-
parted or the conditions are estranged. We can but
with difficulty imagine, much less are we able to be-
lieve, ourselves capable of enjoying that free perspica-
city of thought in universal consciousness which is
cognizant by «app€n;t with essential being. Man from ^^ux^/Cc^x^
his birth employs sense prior to reflection, and all our
knowledge begins in this life with sensible observa-
tion ; most persons pass on well contented with such
evidence as externals supply, regarding them as the
only legitimate, or, indeed, possible objects of know-
ledge. But some few there have been in all ages, excep-
tions to the multitude, intellects in whom the standard
of reality has been too far unfolded to suffer them to
yield implicitly to the conclusions of sense. It is not
those who have studied the philosophy of the ancients
156 More Esoteric View.
that have denounced it as chimerical ; our metaphysi-
cians, without exception amongst those deserving the
appellative, and who aspired after the same convictive
truth, have lamented the inadequacy of natural reason,
at the same time that they recognised the supremacy
of its Law as measuring and determining sensible par-
ticulars ; but they have not been able to redeem it
from dependency on these ; for every attempt of the
unassisted reason terminates negatively, as the Subject
Identity slides evermore behind the regardant mind ;
it is only able at best, therefore, to maintain a coun-
ter ground, whereby to prove the shilling evidence of
its own and other earthly phenomena.
But although satisfaction is thus denied to modern
inquiry, and philosophers have disputed about the
conditions and difficulty of the Absolute ground, yet
are there none found, even in latter times, so pre-
sumptuous as to deny the possibility, seeing it thus
doubly implied, no less in the testimony of the highest
reason than of tradition : and so they ha\ e honoured
the ancients afar off either in despair or admiration of
their Wisdom, unable themselves to break the enchant-
ment which isolates the reflective faculty, and disables
it in the inquiry after that Fontal Nature which, by
a necessary criterion, it craves.
For we may observe, that the evidence of reason,
even in common life, is irresistible, or, more exactly
to speak, intuition is the evidence and end of every
rational proof. We believe in the phenomenon of
existence spontaneously, but in a power of antecedents
to produce their eftects . necessarily ; in the idea of
time, eternity is implied; with bound, intinity ; as the
unit is included in each dependent of a numerical
series, and the mathematics have their evidence in
intellectual assent ; nor do we ever question the
validity of the Law, w'hich thus abstractedly concludes
within us, though our inferences from external facts
are for ever varying, and perpetually at fault.
Locke, discoursing upon the intrinsic superiority of
the Intellectual Law in his Es.sai/, observes that Intui-
The True Subject. 157
tive faith is certain beyond all doubt, and needs no
proof beyond itself, nor can have any, this being
the highest of all human certainty. And it is this
very truth, that a no less eminent French philosopher,
Victor Cousin, has successfully employed within these
few years, to shake the sensual system of Locke and
Condillac to its foundation.^ And this subsistence of
Universals in the human mind deserves to be pro-
foundly considered by all who are interested in the
pursuit of truth ; for it includes a promise far beyond
itself and stable proof of another subsistence however
consciously unknown. Thus, if ordinary conviction is
not attained but by an assurance of reason to itself, and
if, in the discovery of and assent to universal proposi-
tions, there is no use of the discursive faculty or of exter-
nal facts to witness ; if, in short, we really know any-
thing of self-evident intellectual necessity, independent
of sensible persuasion, then does it not follow, there
is a higher evidence of truth than the senses afford,
and a superstantial nature of things implied which,
though now latent and succeeding in order of time, is
first in thought absolutely, and in the circular pro-
gression of nature may be so practically manifested at
last ? Aristotle compares the subsistence of Universals
in the natural understanding to colours, since these
require the splendour of the sun to discover their
beauty, as do those the inspiring afflux of their fontal
illumination : therefore, too, he denominates human
reason, intellect in capacity, both on account of its
subordination to essential intellect, and because it is
from a new awakening, a divine recreation, as it were,
that it conceives the full perfection of a life in ac-
cordance with its own intelligible beauty, goodness,
and truth.
Thus strictly regarding the Intellectual Law, as it
proves and orders inquiry in common life, we have an
image, as it were, an embryo conception of that Ar-
chetypal AVisdom which the ancients celebrated as
1 Elements rle Psycologie, &c. Paris, 1836.
158 More Esoteric View.
the occult essence of that Law. And here we remark
the grand divergence between modern and ancient
metaphysics : that same Law wdiich the former recog-
nises but as an abstract boundary of thought only,
having its object in sensibles, the latter proclaims
absolutely to be the cathohc subject of the great
efficient force of nature, as known also, and proved in
the human conscience, when this is purified and passed
back into contacting experience with its source. And
this was Wisdom, Intellect, Divinization ; and the true
man, according to Plato and the Aristotelians, is this
Intellect ; for the essence of everything is the summit
of its nature. And as man is the summit of this
sublunary creation, and reason is the highest faculty
with wdiich he is here endow^ed, should not this pro-
bably be the next in progress to make manifest the
alleged divinity of his first source ?
Lest doubt should still lurk, however, about such a
Divinity, and whether the notion is rightly conceived
according to the teaching of the best philosophers,
it may be well to bring them forward here, speaking
for themselves.
Thus Aristotle, for first example, since he will not
be rated altogether as an enthusiast, in the beginning
of his A/etup/ii/sics, declares Wisdom to be the highest
science ; adding that a wise man possesses a science of
all things in intellect ; not indeed derived from sen-
sible particulars, but according to that which is univer-
sal and absolute in himself^ In the Nichomachcan
Ethics, too, after showing Intellect to be that power of
the soul by wdiich we know and prove things demon-
stratively, he further distinguishes Wisdom as the true
being of that Intellect; the science and intellection
of things most honourable by nature ; that though
this part is small in bulk, yet it abounds in energy,
and as much exceeds the composite nature of man in
power as in this energy, which is the most delectable
of all energies.'^ And throughout the Metaphysics,
^ Metaphysics, book i. cap. ii.
^ Ethics, book x. cap. vii.
The True Subject. 159
but more especially in the Twelfth Book, he demon-
strates the necessary subsistence of incorporeal (/. e.
essential) being, and its efficacy in operation when,
by the help of certain mystical exercises and prepara-
tions, the human Understanding Medium is made
to pass into contact with its Antecedent Cause ; that
then it becomes to be a life in energy, and enjoys the
most exalted and excellent faculty of discernment,
which was before occult, and the knowledge of which
is inexpressibly blessed, and not to be conceived of by
such as are not duly initiated and capable of this deifi-
cation.— True Intellect, he says, is that which is
essentially the most essential of that which is most
essential ; and it becomes intelligible by contact and
intellection ; and that Intellect is the same with the
intelligible, the understanding recipient of the intel-
ligible essence.^ Which essence, too, is Wisdom, and
the faculty we are discussing. But Plato yet more
plainly declares that to know oneself is Wisdom and
the highest virtue of the soul : for the soul rightly
entering into herself will behold all other things, and
Deity itself; as verging to her own union and to
the centre of all life, lajdng aside multitude and the
variety of all manifold powers which she contains, she
ascends to the highest watch-tower of beings.^ Ac-
cording to Socrates, also, in the Republic, we read
that Wisdom is generative of truth and intellect ; and
in the Thecetetus Wisdom is defined to be that which
gives perfection to things imperfect, and calls forth
the latent Intellections of the soul — and again, by
Diotima, in the Banquet, that mind which is become
w^ise needs not to investigate any further (since it
possesses the true InteUigible) ; that is to say, the
proper object of intellectual inquiry in itself; and
hence the doctrine of Wisdom according to Plato may
be sufficiently obvious.
But Wisdom, says the Pythagorean Archytas, as
^ Metaphysics, book xii. chap. vii.
- See the First Alcibiades, page 90; aud Prochis on the
Theology of Plato, lib. i. cap. iii. p. 7. Taylor.
160 More Esoteric View.
much excels all the other faculties as sight does the
other corporeal senses, or the sun the stars : and man
was constituted to the end that he might contemplate
the Reason of the whole nature, in order that, being
himself the work of Wisdom, he might surv^ey the
Wisdom of the things, which exist Wisdom is not
conversant with a certain definite existing thing but
simply with all things ; and so subsists with reference
to all that it is the province of it to know and con-
template the universal accidents of things and discover
the Principles of all Being. Whoever therefore is able
to analyze all the genera which are contained under
one and the same principle and again to compose
and connumerate them, he appears to be wise and
to possess the most perfect veracity. Further still
he will have discovered a beautiful place of survey,
from which it will be possible to behold Divinity and
all things that are in co-ordination with and successive
to Him, subsisting separately and distinct from each
other. Having likewise entered this most ample road,
being impelled in a right direction by Intellect, and
having arrived at the end of his course, he iv'iU have
coujoined ends with beg'inu'uigs , and will know that
God who is the principle, middle, and end of all things
which are accomplished according to justice and right
reason.^
Here again we have a faculty discussed which is far
above ordinary reason, since this verges to sensibles
and is dependent on them ; but Wisdom implies the
whole of life, being returned into its principle, and
coming into the consciousness of a vision at once
powerful and sublime. Thus Crito, of the same school :
God so fashioned man as to comprehend the Good
according to right reason, and gave him a sight called
Intellect, which is capable of beholding God. For it
is not possible without God to discern that' which is
best or most beautiful ; nor without Intellect to see
^ See the Fragment given by Taylor in liis ^aniblicu.s' Life of
Pvlliagoras.
The True Subject. 161
God. And every mortal nature is established {in this
life) with a kindred privation of Intellect ; this how-
ever is not deprived by God but by the essence of gene-
ration}
The term Intellect, as it is here taken in its highest
sense, is synonymous with Wisdom, and bears the same
relation to our Intellectual Law as does this to the
reasoning faculty, being the self-evident antecedent
and end of its inquiry, which, according to these phi-
losophers, is God. Pythagoras himself defined Wisdom
as the science of truth which is in all beings ;^ and
y/amblicus in his life of this Samian, speaking of Wis-
dom, says that it is truly a science which is convers-
ant with the first and most beautiful objects (i. e., the
Divine Exemplars), and these undecaying, possessing
invariable sameness of subsistence; by the participation
of which other things also may be called beautiful.''
Proclus, Porphyry, the graceful Plotinus, and othei's
of the Neoplatonists, too numerous to mention, dilate
on the same asserted ground ; and there is, according
to all these philosophers, a Principle of Universal Science
latent in human life, real and efficacious^ though cog-
nizable only under certain conditions which they spe-
cify, and wherein reason becomes alone into the sub-
stantive experience of her Law.
This is that which the Egyptians, industrious search-
ers of Nature, proclaimed upon their temples' front,
that Man should know himself: and this advice was
meant experimentally and ontologically, though mo-
dern fancy has slighted it and taken every Ethnic fable
and m}i:hology in a profane sense. And here we are
reminded of a difficulty in endeavouring to make these
positions respecting the nature of true Being obvious
and of drawing them into a form related to sensible
intelligence. Every science is difficult to treat of to
the uninitiated mind, and this kind of speculation
1 See the Fragment in Jamblicus' Life of Pythagoras, by Taylor, _jU
page 248.
2 Idem, chap. xxix.
•'' Idem, chap. ii.
M
162 More Esoteric View.
more particularly is irrelevant to many and naturally
abstruse. Those to whom nature has granted such a
ray of experience in the inner life as would otherwise
appear favourable to a more profound investigation,
are often indifferent to the rational ground, and remain
accordingly satisfied in the dreams and deluding visions
of an included imagination ; others more awakened to
reason on the other hand, but in whom the spirit of
inquiry is wholly drawn to externals, disregard as vain
every proposition that does not immediately address
the senses or pander to some apparent individual in-
terest ; even the most reflective and educated class
have rare inducements in these days, or permission of
leisure sufficient to prosecute studies of an abstract
nature. But we have adverted to the independent
evidence of Universals in the human intellect by way
of introduction chiefly, not on their own account ab-
stractly considered, or so much because the ancients
rested their proofs of internal science thereon ; ])ut
because, having once derived a rational ground of pos-
sibility, we may be better enabled to proceed with the
tradition of the Hermetic mystery and more tangible
effects. ,
jy The doctrine of the Hebrew ^abalists is one of
absolute Idealism; the whole world was before their
eyes as an efflux of Mind, an emanation of the great
superstantial Law of Light ; and that sublime Com-
mentary the Liber Zohar, beams with the revelation of
the celestial prototype in humanity ; and kindling
into reminiscence the fire which burns covertly
throughout Holy Writ, addresses the Pentateuch to
the understanding of mankind.
These Rabbis explain that in pursuance of a certain
arcane (though not wholly inexplicable) necessity, crea-
tion falls away always for the sake of individual mani-
festation, from the consciousness of its primal source ;
that the principle of re-union nevertheless abides in the
generated life of individuals and will in process of time
operate to a restitution and higher perfection than
could have been accomplished if such a fall into this
The True Subject. 163
existence had not taken place. Treating of and inter-
preting as divine symbols, the relations of the Old
Testament, they dignity vastly the view of the whole
scheme ; and placing reason over the head of authority,
and inciting man to self- inquiry as the foundation and
comprehending identity of every other, they unite in
one beautiful system the Religion of Intellect with the
Philosophy of Life.
But it is above all by the supreme position which
^ they assign to man in the scale of creation that these
/v )^abalists arrest attention. The Form of man, says
the Rabbi Ben Jochai, contains all that is in heaven
and earth — no form, no world, could exist before the
human prototype ; for all things subsist by and in it :
without it there would be no world, and in this sense we
are to understand these words. The FAeruat has founded
the earth upon his wisdom. But we must distinguish
the true man from him who is here apparent, for the
one could not exist without the other ; on that form
in man, which is the Celestial Prototype, rests the
perfection of faith in all things, and it is in this re-
spect that man is said to be the image of God.^ For
there is a wide difference between the idols of the hu-
man imagination and the ideas of the divine mind,
between man as he is here known, the individualized
multiplication of a blind will, and that Motive Reason
which is his life. And all this would appear less ex-
travagant, perhaps, and impractical, if, instead of
measuring the surfaces of things, we were to consider
principles ; if, instead of separating our shrunken un-
derstanding to contemplate and compare with the
structure of this vast universe, we were to reflect con-
trariwise upon that wonderful existence which we share
in common with all and which is at the basis of every
specifical living thing. For there is no reason why
man, in that he exists and contains, therefore, within
himself the total Cause of existence, should not, if
the revelation only were allowed, perceive and under-
stand all, in that all-continental All which is in him-
^ Zohar, part i. fol. 191, recto ; part iii. 114, recto.
M 2
164 More Esoteric View.
self. There is a freedom, and explanatory breadth
too, in these writers that does not bear the impress of
mere fancy, with a solemn earnestness of style that
breathes only from conviction. That we cannot easily
apprehend the magnitude of their doctrine is no proof
that it is untrue ; common sense is no criterion in
such a case and its objections fail before the inference
of reason and supporting experience.
God dwells, says the Jew Philo, in the rational
part of man as in a palace ; the palace and temple of
the great self-existent Deity is the intellectual portion
of a man of Wisdom ; the Deity could never find
upon earth a more excellent temple than the rational
part of man.^ And again, — the Logos, by whom the
world was fi-amed, is the seal after the impression of
which everything is made and is rendered the simili-
tude and image of the perfect Word of God ; and the
soul of man is an impression of this seal of which the
prototype and original characteristic is the everlasting
Locros.^ And what is Wisdom according to the ancient
Hermes ? Even the good, the fair, and the blessed
Eternity ; look upon all things through it, and the
world is subject to thy sight. For this Mind in men
is God, and, therefore, are some men said to be divine,
for there humanity is annexed to divinity ;'^ when it is
moved into the catholic Intuition of its Source.
Such then was Wisdom, and that high Intelligible
which it behoves man to search after, the one theme
and bulwark of ancient science, which no historical
teaching or observance of the accidents of nature
could realise or improve — namely, the standard of
truth in a rectified intellect. And philosophy was a
desire of this kind, an appetition of reason for its an-
tecedent light ; and if we may believe these sublime
enthusiasts, Intellect does not extend herself towards
J De Pra>miis et Pcenis, vol. ii. p. 428, 1. 10, 12. De Nobilitato,
p. 437.
2 De Profugi.s, vol. i. p. 510, 1. 49. Dc Plantationc Noe, p.
332, 1. 31.
^ See The Divine Pimamler.
The True Subject. 165
the intelligible Cause in vain. Quotation were end-
less, and enough may recur to the memory of those
who do not yet despair of philosophy, or limit their
faith to the slow evidence of the senses and double
ignorance of these days.
Or, if any one should further doubt of this Wis-
dom, seeing she did not reveal herself in common
arts and sciences of more recent human invention, and
regard the whole as an abstract creature of the imagi-
nation, he will err from the ancient tradition, which
makes Wisdom, however far removed from sensibles,
to be no inessential thing; but an affirmative opera-
tive hypostasis, informing, invigorating, and sustain-
ing all things ; in the words of the Stagyrite before
cited, — It is essentially, the most essential of that which
is most essential. — But Solomon, better than all and
most beautifully in his panegyric, describes her : Wis-
dom, says the wise king, is more moving than any
motion, she passeth through all things by reason of
her pureness. For she is the breath of the power of
God, and a pure influence flowing from the glory of
the Almighty ; therefore, can no defiled thing fall into
her ; for she is the brightness of the everlasting hght,
the unspotted mirror of the powder of God, and the
image of his goodness. And, being but One, she can
do all things, and, remaining in herself, she maketh
all things new ; and in all ages entering into holy
souls, she maketh them friends of God and prophets,
for God loveth none but him that dwelleth with Wis-
dom; for she is more beautiful than the sun and above
all the order of the stars ; being compared with the
light, she is found before it, for after this cometh
night ; but vice shall not prevail against Wisdom ; and
if riches be a possession to be desired in this life, what
is richer than Wisdom which worketh all things ? for
she is privy to the mysteries of the knowledge of God
and a lover of His works. ^
Assuredly, then, is it not our duty and best interest
^ Wisdom of Solomon, cliap. vii.
166 More Esoteric View.
to learn the way, and seek to know every condition of
this proffered alliance, since we are not destitute either
of rational ground or precedent, nor is this the only
place in Scripture where we have a promise with Wis-
dom of more substantial fruits? But as w^e observe
the outer man to be unbelieving by nature and unpro-
mising for much discoveiy, with his senses and servile
intellect all dark within, we leave him here to work
with his own instruments on his own ground ; there
to calcine, weigh, and measure circumferences, from
the first to the last round of material possibility ; per-
chance then, when all has been tried and found want-
ing to his reason, extremes coalescing, we may meet
again.
Meanwhile we, who look directly onward to pene-
trate this mystery, seek not at random any longer in
the outer world where so many before have foundered,
albeit extracting their life's blood, and calling the
mumial vapour and every element to their aid ; but we
look within, or rather, that we may learn how to do so,
inquire of the wise ancients to direct us about the true
method and conditions of Self- Knowledge. For it is
this, no common trance or day-dream, or any fanati-
cal vision of celestials, that we propose to scruti-
nize ; but true psychical experience, cathohc, even as
the basis of that Law by which we reason, feel, and are
one, uniformly living and alike all.
It is into the substantiality of this and for its
practical evolution that we must inquire, if w^e
would discover the true Light of Alchemy ; and
the Alchemists, as we have seen, propose such a
reducation of nature as shall discover this Latex
without destroying her vehicle, but the modal life
only ; and profess that this has not alone been
proved possible, but that man, by rationally condi-
tionating, has succeeded in developing into action the
Recreative Force. But the w^ay they do not so clearly
shew, or where nature may be addressed in order to
the rejection of her superfluous forms ; what was their
immediate efficient ? whence and whereon did they
The True Subject. 167
direct their fire ? These things, with the laboratory,
its vessels and various apparatus, they have disguised,
as we have already shown, and as a natural conse-
quence, by an incurious world have been misappre-
hended and despised. For as Geber, with his usual
point, observes, men have thought the confection of
gold impossible, because they have not known the ar-
tificial destruction according to the course of nature ;
they have proved it to be of a strong composition, but
of how strong a composition they have not proven.
And all this because they knew not the verity
Of altitude, latitude, and of profundity.^
For how should they, who have never glanced even
in imagination towards the Causal Truth, believe in any
other than remote effects ? The well out of which she
is drawn is deep, and not therefore to be fathomed by
the plummet of a shallow reason ; he must ascend in
thought who would, descending, hope to penetrate so
far as to the superstantial experience of things. For
there it is yet hidden, the true light shut up as in a
prison, the fountain of Universal Nature separated off
from human understanding by the external attraction
of it through the gates of sense.
When the soul is situated in the body, says the
philosopher, she departs from self-contemplation, and
speaks of the concerns of an external life ; but, be-
coming purified from body, will recollect all those
things, the remembrance of which she loses in the
present hfe;^ and Plutarch, who was well initiated in
these mysteries, says, the souls of men are not able
to participate of the Divine nature whilst they are
thus encompassed about with senses and passions, any
further than by obscure gUmmerings, and as it were,
in comparison, a confused dream. But when they are
freed from these impediments and removed into purer
regions, which are neither discernible by the corporeal
^ Invest, of Perf. cap. iii. Eussel's Geber. Bloomfield's Camp
of Philosophy, v. 27.
- Plotinus' Select "Works ; Taylor, page 387, &c.
168 More Esoteric View.
senses nor liable to accidents of any kind, it is then
that God becomes their leader — upon Him they
wholly depend, beholding without satiety, and still ar-
dently longing after that beauty which it is impossible
for man sufficiently to express or think — that beauty
which, according to the old mythology, Isis has so
great an affection for, and which she is constantly in
pursuit of, and from whose enjoyment every variety of
good things with which the universe is filled, is re-
plenished, and propagated.^ And again, in the open-
ing of the same admirable Treatise, he observes, that
to desire and covet after the Truth is to aspire to be
a partaker of the Divine Nature itself; and to profess
that all our studies and inquiries are devoted to the
acquisition of holiness ; the end of which, as of all
ceremonial rites and disciplines, was that the aspirant
might be prepared and fitted for the attainment of the
knowledge of the Supreme Mind, whom the goddess
exhorts them to search after. For this Reason is her
temple wherein the Eternal Self-exislent dwells, and
may there hejinally approached, but with due solemnity,
and sanctity of life.
But Psellus, in his luminous commentary on the
Chaldaic Oracles, further declares that there is no
other means of strengthening the vehicle of the soul
but by Material Rites ; and Plato, in the first Alcibiades,
calls the magic of Zoroaster the service of the gods ;
and the use of this magic, in the words of the above
Psellus, is as follows : — To initiate or perfect the hu-
man soul by the power of materials here on earth ; for
the supreme faculty of the soul cannot by its oiun guid-
ance aspire to the sublimest institution, and to the com-
prehension of Divinity : but the work of Piety leads it
by the liand to God, by illumination from thence.
Synesius, likewise, in his 'J)'ealise on Providence,
bears witness to the efficacy of Divine Works ; and the
Emperor Julian, in those arguments of his preserved
by Cyril, shows that without such assistance the Di-
' De Iside et Osiride.
The True Subject. 169
vine union is neither effected nor rightly understood :
and all the accounts we read of the Eleusinian Mys-
teries, in addition to the witness of these philosophers,
confirms that Wisdom was the offspring of a vital ex-
periment into nature, by certain arts and media pro-
ducing the central efficient into conscious being and
effect. If you investigate rightly, says Archytas, dis-
covery will be easy to you ; but if you do not know
hoiv to investigate, discovery will be impossible.
It is the more to be regretted and wondered at, on
account of the importance attached to this discovery,
that the Initiated were so profoundly silent upon these
means ; since mankind in general would seem to have
been precisely in this predicament, they have not
knoan how to investigate ; and were it not for these
scattered innuendoes and acknowledgments of an Art,
we might well continue in ignorance to despair of their
hidden ground : at all events, seeing how far we fall
short of the perception in this life ; either believing, we
might regard the ancients as beings superiorly en-
dowed ; or otherwise disbelieving, deny, as many have
done, the validity of their assertions. Yet as the case
now stands involved in mystery, will it not be unjust
to do either ? For, being ignorant of the method, how
should we presume to test the truth of this philoso-
phy? Equally, also, will it not be incurious to yield
an implicit faith? Let us inquire now, therefore, if
fortunately a ray of light be left to guide us, whether
it be possible to approach to a recollection of this an-
cient experiment, that we may become better judges
of its merits ; and lest gaining nothing by a tacit as-
sent, and pro\dng nothing by mere scepticism, we
should deny something, and bolt ourselves continu-
ously out from the sanctuary of truth in nature.
And here we would engage the reader's attention
for a brief interval, (weighing well the substance of
philosophical assertion against modern pride and our
growing indifference,) to consider the ground of this
Hermetic mystery, and whether there be still an en-
trance open, as there was once said to be, to the shut
170 More Esoteric View.
palaces of Mind. Let us descend into ourselves, and
believe in ourselves if we be able, that that which we
are is worthy our investigation ; and we may discover,
as we proceed, by their traditional light unfolding it,
that the Wisdom of the ancients was not the outward,
adventitious acquisition or vain display which it has
been supposed to be, but a very real, substantial, and
attainable good.
A spontaneous revelation of truth, if it was ever
indeed enjoyed at all without experimental research,
after the Hebrews ceased ; nor was it longer possible
for all, nor at every time, to partake the Divine com-
munion. This, therefore, as the Platonic Successor
remarks, our philanthropic lord and father, Jupiter,
understanding, that we might not be deprived of all
communication with the gods, has given us observa-
tion through Sacred Arts, by which we have at Hand
sufficient assistance.^
Here, then, we take up our clue to w^eave onward
as we proceed, unraveUing the Mysteries by their
traditional light. The objects encountering this re-
search may, as we before said, be appaUing to some,
nugatory to others, and, at first view, too opposed
we fear to the opinions of all ; but if, by chance, a less
oblivious soul or intellect, more allied than ordinary
to antecedent realities, should find familiar scenes re-
cur, thriUing into reminiscence, as of some long past
life forgotten ; let such a one believe, and his faith will
not betray him, the road w^hereon we are journeying is
towards his Native Land.
^ See /amblicus on the Mysteries ; Taylor's Notes at the end,
page 347 ; the Greek extract from Julian's Arguments.
The Mysteries. 171
CHAPTER 11.
Of the Mysteries.
The patli by wliich to Deity we climb
Is arduous, rough, ineffable, sublime ;
And the strong massy gates thro' which we pass,
In our first course, are bound with chains of brass ;
Those men, the first who of Egyptian birth,
Drank the fair water of Nilotic earth,
Disclosed by actions infinite this road,
And many paths to God Phoenicians showed ;
This road the Assyrians pointed out to view,
And this the Lydians and Chaldeans knew.
Oracle of Apollo, from Eusehius.
WE have shown in our history that the Greeks were
not ignorant of the Hermetic Art, which they
borrowed with their metaphysics (so far indeed as
such things may be borrowed which pertain to reason)
from the Egyptians and Persians, whose temples were
visited by nearly every philosopher of note.
Now the Egyptian, that is the Hermetic Art, or Art
of Divine works, was by the Greeks called Theurgy ;
and was extensively practised at Eleusis, and more or , /
less m allihg temples of their Gods. On no subject /^v' CrL^^^iA.
has more difference of opinion arisen amongst the
learned : the high veneration in which the Mysteries
were held, the intellectual enthusiasm with which the
Alexandrians speak of them, the philosophic explana-
tions given in detail by Jamblicus and others, concern-
ing the motive and divine nature of the initiatory rites
and the spectacles they procured, have puzzled many
inquirers who, unable in latter times to account ra-
tionally, have disposed of the greater part as a pan-
tomymic show, sanctified by priestly artifice and ex-
aggerated by a wild imagination, natural as it has been
supposed to those Ethnic souls. But then the Fathers
I ytoL-
iJLj-
172 More Esoteric View.
of our Church, what frenzy should have possessed
them, that St. Augustin, Cyrillus, Synesius and the
rest, should imitate their follies, transferring the very
language, disciplines, and rites of those " odious mys-
teries," to their own ceremonial worship as Christians,
and that Clemens Alexandrinus should call them
"blessed?" This has seemed extraordinary, and the
authorities have been quoted and requoted and turned
in many various ways by modern writers, each to the
support of his own peculiar view or modification, often,
as may be imagined, at variance with the original sense
in context.
Warburton's bias is negative and singularly mislead-
ing ; he regarded the whole scheme of the Mysteries
as a political fraud, came to the conclusion that the
gods were dead men deified, and that the greater mys-
teries were instituted solely with a view to nullify the
lesser.^ But, as is natural, he who so shamelessly
charged others with a base expediency, quickly ceased
to be respected as an authority himself, and his notions
are accordingly quite obsolete. Sainte Croix, whose
researches are otherwise the most complete, sets all in
an astronomical and eminently superficial aspect.^
e-^-vey Gebelin and La Planche see all with vacant agricul-
tural eyes;^ whilst the author of" Antiquity Unv^eiled,"
notwithstanding so much learning to his aid, has found
out only the foolishness of the ancients, and thinks
that the mysteries should be regarded as a depository
of the religious melancholy of the first men.^ Every
trifling interpretation in short has been given, and
everything imputed to the Mysteries except a discovery
of the Wisdom which they professed. For although
some with superior mind^, as Thomas Taylor for ex-
ample, have examined philosophically ; yet from lack
of evidence, and being without a guide from anything
analogous in modern times, "^ too dispose^ of them as
^ See the Divine Legation, vol. i.
2 Sainte Croix des Myst^-res, 2 vols. 8vo.
3 Gebelin, Monde Primitif. La rianchc des Cieux.
'* L'Antiquite devoilee par ses Usages, &c.
^
The Mysteries. 173
immaterial ceremonies, representations at best of ab-
stract philosophic truths.^ a^
Now this and all such, like- the foregoing opinions, <^4
are discordant to our apprehension, and injurious to
the spirit of Antiquity, which not alone upholds philo-
sophy, that is to say, Ontological Wisdom, as the true
object of initiation, but represents the rites themselves
as really efficacious to procure it. As the Platonists
and Psellus, before cited to the point, distinctly declare,
and Cicero, "fett they were truly called hdtia, for they ^
were the beginning of a life of reason and virtue ;
whence men not only derived a better subsistence here,
as being drawn fi'om an irrational and brutal life, bat
were led on to hope and aspire for a more blessed im-
mortality hereafter.^
Nor did the ancients promise this indiscriminately,
but to those who were initiated in the Greater Mys-
teries only, as the Pythagoreans and Plato in Pluedo
assert that by such means an assimilation was in-
duced, and final contact w^ith the object of rational
inquiry, which is that identity whence, as a principle, —
we make our first descent. But y^ambHcus more par- _/^
ticularly explains that it was by arts divinely potent,
and not by theoretic contemplation only or by mere
doctrinal faith or representations either of reality ; but
by certain ineffable and sublime media that Theurgists
became cognizant partakers in the Wisdom of true q
Being. ^ Jmik Heraclitus calls these uKet, medicines, as ^
being the help and remedy of imperfect souls ; they
possessed a power of healing the body likewise, which
was extensively practised in the temples of Esculapius
with various minor physico-magical arts. But phi-
losophy, according to Strabo, was the object of the
Eleusinian rites, and without the initiations of Bacchus
and Ceres, he considers the most important branch of
human knowledge would never have been attained.
Servius, commenting on Virgil, observes that the sacred
^ Dissertation on the Eleusinian and Bacchic Mysteries.
-^ ^ De Legibus, lib. ii. cap. xiv.
/ -^ /^amblicns on the Mysteries ; Taylor, p. 109.
U/
174 More Esoteric View.
rites of Bacchus pertained to the purification of souls.
Liberi patris sacra ad purgationem aniniarum per-
tinebant ; and again, Anim-ae acre ventilantur, quod erat
in sacris Liberi purgationis genus. — The Greeks con-
ceived that the welfare of the states was moreover
secured by these celebrations, and the records refer to
them as bestowing that of which human nature stands
principally in need, viz., moral enlightenment and pu-
riti cation of life ; without the revelation and support
afforded by them, indeed, existence was esteemed no
better than a hving death ; the tragedians echoing the
sense of the people made the chief felicity to consist
therein, as Euripides, by Hercules says, — I was blessed
when I got a sight of the mysteries ; — and in Bacchis,
O blessed and happy he who knowing the mysteries
of the gods, sanctifies his life, celebrating orgies in the
mountains with holy purifications. And Sophocles, to
the same purport, — Life only is to be had there, all other
places are full of misery and evil.^ 1^ ^le doctrine
of the Greater Mysteries, says Clemens Alexandrinus,
related to the whole universe ; here all instruction
ended ; nature and all things she contains were un-
veiled ; — O mysteries truly sacred, O pure light ! at
the light of torches the veil that covers deity and
heaven falls off. I am holy now that I am initiated ;
it is the Lord himself who is the hierophanta ; he sets
his seal upon the adept whom he illuminates with his
beams; and whom, as a recompense for his faith, he
will recommend to the eternal love of the Father.
These are the orgies of the Mysteries, concludes the
bishop, in pious transport, come ye and be initiated.
But the usage of the church was not to discover its
mysteries to the profane, especially those that relate to
the final apotheosis. It is even unwilling to speak of
them to the Catechumens, says St. Cyrillus, except in
obscure terms, in such a manner, however, as that the
faithful who are initiated may comprehend, and the
^ See Praetextus, Hist. Nov. lib. iv. Divine Legation, vol. i. p.
198. De Septchenes, chap. ii. p. 174, &c.
"7
The Mysteries. 175
rest be discouraged. For by these enigmas the Dagon
is overthrown.^
There was undoubtedly a secret hanging about these
celebrations, both Ethnic and Christian, which no
record has divulged or common sense literally suc-
ceeded to explain away ; the belief in providence and
a future state were freely promulgated, and ordinary ^ - ^ .
^o»^ worship apart, with whkA these mysteries^ ought not ttJt.^ccrK'.c/x
by any means to be confounded ; since that might ^
indeed be perpetuated anywhere, and has been with-
out essentially changing the estate of life.
Previous, however, to more fully entering, we are
desirous to observe that a few writers on Animal
Magnetism, having within these few years become
enlightened by that singular discovery, suggest their
Trance and its phenomena as a revelation of the temple
mysteries and various rehgious rites. But no one,
that we are aware, has developed his suggestion or
carried the idea sufficiently above the therapeutic
sphere ; they appear to have taken a broad view, with-
out particular inquiry into the nature of their rites
from the ancients themselves. Had they done this,
(we speak of the more advanced minds,) we are per-
suaded that with that key in hand, their attention
would have been drawn in new directions, and their
satisfaction about the modern use of it become much
modified by observing the far superior results which,
through their Theurgic disciplines, the ancients aspired
after, different too, as they were superior to any that
we are accustomed to imagine even at the present
day.
The ordinary effects of Animal Magnetism, or Mes-
merism, or Vital Magnetism, or by whatever other term
the unknown agency is better expressed, are now so
familiarly known in practice that it will be unnecessary
to describe them ; they have attracted the attention of
the best and most advanced minds of the present age,
who have hailed with admiration a discovery which
^ See the extracts rendered by De SeptcheBes, in his Religion
of the Greeks, chap. ii. from Meursius, Eleusinea et Cecropia.
w
176 More Esoteric View.
enables man to alleviate pain and maladies insur-
mountable by other means, and by benevolent dispo-
sition of his proper vitahty, acting in accord, to restore
health and equilibriate repose to his suffering fellow
creatures. And thus it is true we can lull the senses,
cure the sick, sometimes too restore the blind and deaf
to hearing, sight, and utterance ; and it is a glorious
step in progress, cheering and hopeful, a blessing on
our mortal suffering state. But are we to halt here
always, or how long ? The ordinary phenomena of
lucidity, pre^nsion, community of sense, will, and
thought, have long been familiar and might have in-
stigated to more important discovery ; but years have
passed, and the science has not grown, but retro-
graded rather in interest and power, since De Main-
apduc Puysegur, Colhoun, Elliotson, Dupotet and the
"rest, faithful spirits, first set their fellow-men on the
road of inquiry.
But the best effects of Mesmerism, if we connect it
with the ancients' Sacred Art, appear as trifles in com-
parison ; the Supreme Wisdom they investigated, the
Self- Knowledge and perfection of life and immortality
promised and said to be bestowed on those initiated in
the higher Mysteries, ^hat has Mesmerism to do with
these things ? What wisdom does it unfold ? What
is its philosophy, or has it yet made an attempt luMully e^i^^/r\^
to investigate the subject-being, the cause of its own
effects ? In common arts, the ingenuity is set to work
how it may advance and adapt them to the best ad-
vantage; new capabilities are discovered which, put in
action, often prove the fi'uitful source of more ; whereas
Mesmerism, dwelling altogether in the ]wact'ice (the same
which from the first unfolded nature as far as it was
able), continues to run on with her in the same com-
mon-place round. Our sleepwakers are little better
than dreamers, for the most part, or resemble children
born into a new world, without a guide, unable of
themselves to educate their latent faculties, or discri-
minate truth from falsehood in their revelations. And,
as respects the Universal Medium, they even, who be-
The Mysteries. 177
Heve in such a thing, take it as it presents itself
naturally, having no knowledge of the capabihties or
means of improvement, whither it is able to ascend or
descend, or w^hat is its right determination. The few
experimental tests that have been instituted hitherto
prove nothing but to identify the same " Impon-
derable" through all; and if we make trial of the
Spirit's instincts, asking for revelations of prophecy
and distant scenes or journeyings through the air,-and
they follow^ us, those patients of our will, we then go
out fi'om them to philosophize, or wonder, or to think
no more about it, as the case may be ; repeating the
same mechanical operations, and witnessing similar
effects continually over again, until at length the en-
thusiasm which early characterized the novelty and
raised expectation about it, has very generally and
naturally died away.
Now this, according to our gatherings, was not the
sort of investigation that the ancients followed in their
Mysteries ; although working in the same material
and with similar instruments, on the same ground,
yet their practice w^as different ; for it was conducted
upon established principles and with a truly philo-
sophic as well as benevolent aim. Theurgists, indeed,
condemn the Spirit of the natural life as degraded and
incapable of true intelligence, nor did they therefore
value the revelations of its first included sphere ; but
proceeded at once, passing these, as it appears, in the
Lesser Mysteries, to dissolve the medium more entirely;
and, as they knew how, to segregate the Vital Spirit
away from those defilements and imaginative im-
pressures which, by the birth into sense, had become
implanted there, obscuring its intelligence and that
divine eye which, as Plato says, is better worth than
ten thousand corporeal eyes ; for by looking through
this alone, when it is purified and strengthened by
appropriate aids, the truth pertaining to all beings is
perceived .
The Neoplatonists wrote largely of the Theurgical
art ; many are quoted by St. Augustine and his cotem-
/^/os-
178 More Esoteric View.
poraries which ai'c not transmitted, but were destroyed
/ probably through the seetarian maHce and short-
sighted poHcy of the^Roman government, which toler-
ated nothing but luxury and arms. Yet sufficient
remains to e\dnce the nature of the Mysteries, since,
besides those before named — Plotinus, Proclus, Por-
7" phyry, Synesius, and Jambhcus especially — all refer to
" them, declaring also the objects and revelations. And
in what the disease of the Spirit consists, and from
what cause it falsities and is dulled, and how it becomes
clarified and defecated, and restored to its innate
simplicity, may be learned in part from their philo-
sophy ; for by the lustrations in the Mysteries, as they
describe, the soul becomes liberated and passes into a
divine condition of being.
Synesius writes appositely on the early disciplines,
showing the phantastical condition also of the natural
understanding essence, before it is purified by art and
exalted. This Etherial Spirit, he says, is situated on
the confines of the rational and brutal life, and is of a
corporeal and incorporeal degree ; and it is the medium
which conjoins divine natures with the lowest of all.
And nature extends the latitude of a phantastic essence
through every condition of things ; it descends to ani-
mals in whom intellect is not present ; in this case,
however, it is not the understanding of a divine part
(as in man it ought to be) but becomes the reason of
the animal with which it is connected, and is the occa-
sion of its acting with much wisdom and propriety.
And it is obvious, he continues, that many of the
energies of the human life consist from this nature,
or if from something else (/ e. to say, from reason),
yet this prevails most ; for we are not accustomed to
cogitate without imagination, unless, indeed, some one
should on a sudden be enabled to pass into contact
with an intelligible essence.^
That is into the identical apperception of true being ;
which is not possible under the ordinary conditions of
' See Taylor's Proclus on Euclid, tlie extract from Synesius,
vol. ii.
The Mysteries. 179
thought in this Hfe ; but reason is always more or less
debilitated in its energies by the habitual dependence
on sense for data and objective proof, and by that
modal consciousness which prevents from transcending
it. Nor is this the only barrier, since when freed from
the encumbrance of the senses temporarily, when in a
state of trance they are quiescent, their impressure
yet remains, and, as Synesius says, a false imagination,
which it is requisite to destroy, as well as to banish all
influxions from without, before the understanding
spirit can superinduce Divinity.
It is well known that Pythagoras instituted long pre-
parations and ordeals to train the minds of his disci-
ples, previously to admitting them into the deeper
mysteries of his school ; and his biographer relates how,
by divine arts and media, he healed and purified the
souls of his followers, and that by constantly holding
them allied to a certain precedential good, their lives
were preserved in continual harmony and converse
with the highest causes. But dense thickets, which -7-
are full of briers, saySy/amblicus, surround the intel- _/
lect and heart of those who have not been purely
initiated, and obscure the mild and tranquil reason-
ing power, and openly impede the intellective part
from becoming increased and elevated : and again,
— It may be well to consider the length of time
that we consumed in wiping away the stains which had
insinuated themselves into our breasts, till, after the /
lapse of some years, we became fit recipients for the /^.
doctrines of Pythagoras ; for as dyers previously purify /
garments, and then fix in the colours with which they
wish them to be imbued in order that the dye may
not be evanescent, after the same manner also that
divine man prepared the souls of those that are lovers
of Wisdom. For he did not impart specious doctrines
or a snare, but he possessed a scientific knowledge of
things human and divine.'
The Egyptian Olympiodorus also speaks of the
/ 1 /aniblicua' Life of Pythagoras, chap, xvi., xvii.
^ ' N 2
180 More Esoteric View.
natural imperfection of the human understanding, and
how far its conceptions are adverse to divine illumina-
tion. The jDhantasy, says he, is an impediment to
our intellectual conception ; hence, when we are agi-
tated by the inspiring influence of divinity, and the
phantasy intervenes, the enthusiastic energy ceases ;
for enthusiasm and the phantasy are contrary to each
other. Should it be asked whether the soul is able to
energize without the phantasy, we reply, that the per-
ception of Univei sals proves that it is able}
As a rational promise to this life of a higher reality,
the subsistence of these Universals cannot be too
often or too distinctly brought to mind ; for not only
do they reveal in us a necessity of Being beyond pre-
sent experience, but, adumbrating, as it were, their an-
tecedent light, assist much, if perspicuously beheld,
^J . to introduce the idea of that consummate Wisdom,
U\...t^ wherein tho'oamc reason, becoming passive, receives
the substance of her whole. And the ancients glow-
ingly describe the truth so conceived as an unques-
tionable experience ; one and the same in all, where _
difference is merged in objective union. And /amb- Z
licus moreover asserts, that Thcurgic rites conspiring
to this end were scientifically disposed and early de-
fined by intellectual canons ; neither is it lawful to
consider these canons as mutable, since they are the
natural faith of hfe, and alone of all creeds catholic
and independent.
But to transcend the sensible life in rational energy
permanently apart is described as not less difficult
than fortunate to attain ; hence Plato appropriates the
possession of Wisdom to old age, signifying by this in-
intellect divining intuitively without imaginative error ;
a Wisdom such as is not worldly, since it by no means
belongs to the common life of man, nor is to be
hoped for at all, either in the early awakening of the
life within ; but by a transition gradually effected by
Art away from the profound stains of a baser affection,
* See Porphyry's Aids to Intelligibles. Taylor, p. 207, note.
The Mysteries. 181
it is carried up through the love of truth by faith into
vivid contact with its whole.
And the extremity of all evil in this life consists,
according to the ancients, in not perceiving the pre-
sent evil and how much human nature stands in need
of melioration ; and this is a part of that twofold ig-
norance which Plato execrates, which being ignorant
that it is ignorant has no desire to emerge, but may be
compared to a body all over indurated by disease,
which, being no longer tormented with pain, is nei-
ther anxious to be cured. But he who lives in the
consciousness of something better will meditate im-
provement, and desire is the first requisite ; indeed,
without desire on our part, art will labour for us in
vain, since Will is the greatest part of purgation. And
through the means of this, says Synesius, both our
deeds and discourses extend their hands to assist us in
our assent ; but this being taken away the soul is de-
prived of every purifying machine because destitute of
assent, which is the greatest pledge of reconcihation.
Hence disciplines willingly endured become of far
greater utility, whilst they oppose vexation to evil
and banish the love of stupid pleasure from the soul.
But the phantastic Spirit may be purified, even in
brutes, continues this author, so that something
better may be induced : how much will not the regres-
sion of the rational soul be therefore base, if she
neglects to restore that which is foreign to her nature,
and leaves lingering upon earth that which rightly be-
longs on high ? Since it is possible, bij labour and a
transition into other lives, for the imaginative soul to
be purijied and to emerge from this dark abode. And
this rcstoratio)i indeed one or two may obtain as a gift
of divinity and initiation. Then, indeed, the soul ac-
quires fortitude with divine assistance, but it is no tri-
fling contest to abrogate the confession and compact
which she has made with sense. And in this case
force will be employed, for the material inflictors will
then be roused to vengeance, by the decrees of fate,
against the rebels of her laws ; and this is what the
182 More Esoteric View.
Sacred Discourse testifies by the labours of Her-
cules, and the dangers which he was required to en-
dure, and which every one must experience who
bravely contends for liberty, till the Understanding
Spirit rises superior to the dominion of nature and is
placed beyond the reach of her hands. ^
Hence, and from the foregoing evidence, it may
have become probable that modern art has hitherto
unfolded but a small and inferior part only of
the Spirit's life ; nor has experience yet opened into
those temptations and trials which the conscious-
ness must necessarily pass through, all the while re-
gressive, before it reaches into the central illumination
of truth. Nor does anything occur to us more beau-
tifully suggestive than the whole of the passage, from
which we here gather, wherein Synesius describes not
only the life that is operated upon and, in graceful
terms, the artifice, but shows the conditions of desire
and will, so indispensable for advancement, the la-
bours and dangers likew^ise wdiich attend those wiio
aspire to the upper gi'ades of Intellectual Science.
And is it not true, as he remarks so far, we do lead
for the most part a phantastic Hfe? Nor least they
who least suspect it, for it is the shining of truth that
makes this visible, as a cloud before her face. Are
we not filled too with conceits and roving imaginations
and idols, which we are evermore mistaking for the
real good? Do we not abound in sects and dissen-
sions, heresies and doubts, so that scarcely two are to
be found agreeing on all points ? And the causes are
obvious ; without a standard and sure foundation to
build on, we judge, as we are only able, with the ru-
dimentary faculties and senses that are born in us, and
of all nature, as through a glass darkly. Tf, there-
^ See Taylor's History of the Eestoration of the Platonic Phi-
losophy ill vol. ii. of his Proclus on Euclid. Tliis Synesius was
the Christian Platonist, Bisliop of Alexandria, before mentioned
in the history ; one well experienced, according to his own ac-
count, ill tlie Hermetic philosophy, and whose writings on the art
of transjimtation liave in part descended to this day
The Mysteries. 183
fore, with this same iiiisunderstanding and infected
Spirit, we enter in for the discovery and contemplation
ot" ourselves, it will be useless ; we shall not there
discern the true hypostasis, but err amongst the tur-
bulent and shadowy impressures of this life's birth
and sphere of accidents. Thus mingling with the soul
of the universe, without purification or any distinc-
tion of its light, our vehicle disports herself oftentimes
in many mingling forms ; as it is with those who dream
or make to themselves a fool's paradise with the drug-
gist's gas ; since this, even impure as it is and full of
folly, being of like nature with our life, coalesces ;
and would, if allowed to persist, consume its ration-
ality. And on this account we observe the ancients
more particularly warn about the treatment of their
Spirit, which, though of a higher birth and instinct (as
we may observe in the comparison of mesmerized
patients and those under the influence of chloroform
or common tether,) and capable of so much higher,
even as they say of the highest intelligence, yet in
proportion may suffer also the most fearful degrada-
tion. Accordingly if the will incline downwards, per-
sisting to grovel, or evil agencies intervene, then, as
the Sacred Discourse has it, the Spirit grows heavy
and sinks into profound Hades. It is necessary that
the mind, once seated in this Spirit, should either
follow or draw or be drawn by it. Hence, if growing
predominant in folly, she should cease to aspire, the
whole identity, being submerged together, would be
converted to her life.
For is she not that very Sphinx of the Labyrinth,
the devourer of strangers and all who have not the wit
to unriddle her and know themselves? At all ev^ents,
such is said to be the nature of the Phantastic Spirit
before it is mundified, that he who enters so far as to
be 'profoundly conscious in her essence, will be lost in
irrational confusion, if he assume not quickly his intel-
lectual energies and solve, that is comprehend, it on its
own ground. For, if reason remains passive, this
natm-e at length prevailing, will ravage and devastate
184 More Esoteric View.
and take possession of the whole mind, destroying its
active energies and converting them to herself. Thus
Jamblicus, speaking of this mundane spirit, says — it
grows upon and fashions all the powers of the soul,
exciting in opinion the illuminations from the senses,
and fixes in that life which is extended fi'om body the
impressions which descend from intellect. And Pro-
clus, concerning the same nature, declares that — it folds
itself about the indivisibility of true intellect (which is
in its centre), conforms itself to all formless species,
and becomes perfectly everything from which dianoia
and our individual reason consist^. And, as it is com-
monly observed to be a vain labour to infuse doctrine
into a perplexed and turbid brain, or for a merely prac-
tical unspeculative soul to judge of abstract propo-
sitions ; just so, no doubt, the best constituted minds
would be inadequate to self-inspection on their first
entrance into life. For the Spirit understands the
affections of the mind, and reflects its image as it is,
whether good or evil. But the primary and proper
vehicle of the mind, when it is in a wise and purified
condition, is attenuated and clear seeing ; when how-
ever the mind is sensually affected, then this vehicle
is dulled and becomes terrene ; the instincts are said
to be imperfect just in proportion as the perceptive
medium is impure, and therefore it needs alteration
and solution, as the Oracles teach, for the discernment
of good and evil, and the proper choice of life.
It is therefore that the Alchemists so much declaim
against the vulgar Matter as it is at first made known,
full of heterogeneous qualities and notions, as a sub-
ject fallen from its sphere and defiled. Hence all
those preparations, solutions, calcinations, &c., before
it becomes to be the "Mercury of Philosophers" —
pure, agile, intelligent, living — as they say, in her
own sphere, as a queen upon her throne. — Aceipc-
■occultum---arcanum quod — est — zes- nostrum ct lavQr>
qnnd sit }»uru«i- et mundum> — Dcindc pone in vase
■nofetre — eum sigillo — philoaophico , — rcgimi«e- initium
cot pcrfccta solutio. Take, says Albcrtus Magnus,
The Mysteries. 185
the occult sateve, which is our brass, and wash it CjAXBa^i'^JA^
that it may be pure and clean, . . . The first rule
of the work is a perfect solution.^
All which we understand with reference to the uni-
versal Mundane Spirit, as it is at first consciously
revealed in the recipient life of humanity ; which
Aristotle, in his Metaphysics, calls passive intellect,
because capable of receiving and being converted to
all — the best or worst inclination, the highest truth or
the most delusive imaginings — of manifesting motives
in vital effects, and within certain limits of organizing
even and transporting them.
And this we take to be the identical agent which is
spread abroad in the present day mesmerizing, the
photogenic medium, our " New^ Imponderable," for it
is the Common eoul ; also the subject-matter of the
Alchemists aforesaid, when they call it a thing indif-
ferent, abject, and exposed in all hands, moving here
below in shadowy manifestation, invisibly and uncon-
sciously converted to every will and various use. It
is what the world cares not for, as the adept says, but
disesteems it ; it hath it in its sight, carries it in its
hands, yet is ignorant thereof; for it passeth away with
a sudden pace without being known ; yet these trea-
sures are the chiefest, and he that knows the Art, and
the expressions, and hath the medium, will be richer
than any other. ^ But, in its natural state, the micro-
cosmic life is not dissimilar from the vitality of the
greater world, which is included by respiration in the
blood of all creatures, maintaining its perpetual pul-
sation, as of the wind and waves, their flux and re-
flux, supplying to all existence the food of life. And
how much such a life is in need of melioration, how
much it suffers and desires, and how far its benefi- . r /
c^nce falls short of human hope and ideality, may be CciMyO-iJf^
apparent, and, witltout more cv^deee^, that in her '
Door-keeper, Isis is not revealed.
1 Secret. Tract. Alberti, iu fine. Artis Aurifer??, p. 130, &c.
^ Aquarium Sapient um, part ii. in fine. Vaughan's Coelum-
Terree^ p. 80, &c.
186 More Esoteric View.
But so far we have yet advanced only to the gate of
the great Labyrinth, where the Sphinx is even now pre-
sent, rapidly propounding her dark riddles to the world,
images of the obscure and intricate nature of the hu-
man spirit ; which, by the devious windings, delusive
attractions and simiHtudes of its own included sphere,
leads imperceptibly, as it were, by an alluring grace, into
that Hermetic wilderness and wdld of Magic in which so
many adventurers have gone astray. This is the Mon-
ster and the Eternal Riddle explained to common sense
as suits it, but misunderstood to this day ; that Com-
pound Simple and ground of the magians' elements — a
thing so perplexedly treated of by them, and having
about it such a latitude for sophistication, that it is al-
most impossible to collect or unravel what has been
said of it. Or how should reason attempt to define
an essence all comprehending, yet separated in each
particular, by so great an interval from itself? But
this is that Augean Stable that was to be cleansed,
that most famous labour of the philosophic Hercules ;
nor the least of labours, to. turn the current of life
into another channel, and purify the natural source.
Close upon the revealment of the Medial Life then,
as we take it, in order of the Mysteries followed the
Purificative Rites, which were designed also to restore
the monarchy of reason in the soul, and this not
Q^^| either as an end so much, bu^preparatory to under-
going the final initiations. We arc induced, however,
to dwell longer on this first step, and on the necessity
of intellectual preparation and auxiliaries ; because it
may be objected, as we proceed to unfold the ultimate
tradition of this Wisdom, that we have no valid wit-
ness to our side ; that any individual may declare
according to the revelations of his mind, and introduce
a various imagination to the idea of truth ; that even
supposing the mind included for a while and entirely
free from outward impressions, still, retaining as it
must the original bias, not only of sense but of birtli
and education, its experience will be neither trust-
worthy nor imi)ortant to this life : and then nothing
The Mysteries. 187
of a universal character, such as the ancients speak of,
has been observed; or if asserted, how should it be
ScoaczIjlj -fearfHy proved ? Reason in these days is not content
1/ with affirmation; it will have objective response to its
j faith ; all pretensions, therefore, to internal lights and
1 revelations have ceased to attract the attention of
mankind. And, again, it may be inquired why, if true
Being is everywhere totally present, it is not so per-
ceived ; and why all things partaking do not enjoy the
light of the so-called superstantial world ?
In reply to this last objection, we would ask if it be
not because that very Light is drawn outwardly, and
enchanted by sense ; that it is internally unconscious
and oblivious every where of the great Identity whence
it springs ? If that were applied inwardly which now
looks out, and every natural impediment removed,
experience might then reveal in us the antecedent life.
But the former objections recur here : there are impe-
diments ; and it behoves us to consider scrupulously,
but without prejudice, the possibility and tests of such
an experience ; for if by this traditionary fall and out-
birth, the understanding is so polluted as to be no
more able, as Lord Bacon supposes,^ to reflect the
total reason to itself, introspection will be useless, and
the central mystery remains, as respects humanity,
a hopeless problem after all.
None better than the ancients (who "profess to
have enjoyed the rational life in its most intimate
spheres, and to have reaped its most real and lasting-
advantages,) describe the folly and fatal allurements
to which they are subjected who trust themselves
to remain passively dreaming in the region of the
phantasy, with its notions and instincts, often more
false, fleeting, and evil than the corporeal images with
which sense is conversant. It is for this cause they
insist so much that, before any one betakes himself to
the inner Ufe of contemplation — before he hopes, wc
mean, to pass into its Reason — that all else be cfl'ec-
^ See his Instauration of the Sciences, sub iiiit.
188 More Esoteric View.
tually obliterated, and the mental atmosphere made
clear and passive before its objective light. Without
this, they promise nothing; with it, all. And on this
possibility, namely, of purifying the human Under-
standing Essence, and developing to consciousness its
occult Causality, the transcendental philosophy of the
mystics may be observed to hinge entirely and exceed
every other.
For that there is a foundation of truth in existence,
is as necessary for us to admit as that we are ignorant
of it ; and the doubt rather remains also about the
discovery of means, than the possibility of self-know-
ledge.
To continue then, partly on the authority of the
Greek philosophers and partly on some other grounds
hereafter to be disposed of, we are led to infer that the
Hermetic purifications and Mysteries, celebrated in the
Eastern temples and by the priests at Eleusis, were
real and efficacious for the highest ends that philoso-
phy can propose to itself, namely, the purification and
perfection of human life ; and that inasmuch as the
object was different and immeasurably superior to
those proposed by modern Mesmerism, or any other
art or science of the present day, so also were the
means employed (the })articulars of which are furtJicr
discussed under the Practice), and the administration
in proportion purer, holier, and entirely scientific.
For does not all our experimentalism and philosophy
end in fact where the ancients began, purifying the
Vital Spirit in its proper Light ?
Or if any one think we have been discussing all the
while a mere nothing, and developing a vain imagina-
tion, we admit it ; suggesting only that. That which is,
in his mind, so mere a nothing, becomes in that of a
philosopher to be the All in all. But who will now
conceive the full latitude and substantiality of this prin-
ciple, or the true metaphysical use thereof? Few,
very few, Philalethes said, there were in his day, and
who will even inquire now, or believe that it is the
very same which solved and resolved, and wisely
The Mysteries. 189
manipulated, becomes to be the concrete Stone of phi-
losophers ; in its pure, passive expanse, a mirror of
the catholic reason of nature, and the medium of that
holy and sublime experience granted to man alone
in the divine alliance — Ex natura et divino factum
est, as Reuchlin, in 2'he M'mjic Word, expresses it — /
Divinum enim quia cum divinitate conjunct|lm di- /^■^/
vinas substantias facit. / ^
Take that which is least, and draw it by artifice into
the true ferment of philosophers ; although our metal
is exteriorly dead, yet it has life within, and wants
nothing more than that That which in the eyes of
a philosopher is most precious should be collected,
and that That which the many set more value on be
rejected ; and these words are manifest without envy,
says the Greek Aristhenes, O, how wonderful is that
thing to which we add nothing different and detract
nothing, only in the preparation removing superflui-
ties.^
From that which is perfect nothing more can be
made ; for a perfect species is not changed in its na-
ture, neither from an utterly imperfect thing can art
produce perfection ; but this Universal Spirit is de-
scribed as a middle substance — passive, undetermined,
susceptible of conversion and all extremes. And such
accordingly we understand to be the ^ne ^hing
purifying and to be purified itself by itself, in turn
agent and patient, which are the Hermetic luminaries ;
in their full representative advancement, the Sun and
Moon philosophical, passing through many phases
from imperfection to perfection in the true magistery.
And the Hermetic art would seem to consist simply
in the right disposition and manipulation of this our
Undetermined Subject, taking her where nature leaves,
and by divers operations, to be hereafter noted, as of
amalgamation, distillation, filtration, digestion, and
lastly by sublimation to the Head of an appropriate
1 Aristoteles in Eosario, and in the Lucerna Salis.
190 More Esoteric View.
Vessel, establishing her in a new and concentric Form
of Light.
Nor may this seem a fable to the wise,
Since all things live according to their kinds ;
Their life is light Avhich in them hidden lies,
Discerned by the eyes of soaring minds,
To them discovered is true nature's map,
By whom produced nothing is by hap :
For she her secret agent doth possess.
Which in the universe is only one,
But is distinct thro' species numberless,
According to their seeds, which God alone
In the beginning did produce, and then ^.^
Set them their law, found out ^^y mental men.^ ^f
But a long- interval is between, and all the labours of
that Heroic Intellect to be passed through before the
/vLQ.Ci'iynS rejected Keystone i^joins her Head place. None but a
/ })hilosopher ever achieved the work, or, for reasons
that are imperative, ever will. The idle and vicious
are totally excluded, nor are the rewards of Wisdom to
be won by fools wanting the very principle of meliora-
tion in themselves. — Nemo enim dat id, quod non
habet. — He only that hath it can impart — and he only
has it who has laboured rationally in the pursuit. As
is exemplified in that saying of Esdras — The earth
giveth much mould, whereof earthen vessels are made,
but little dust that gold cometh of. ^
Non levis adscensus, si quis petat ardua sudor
Plurimus hunc tollit, nocturna) insomnis oliva'
Tmmoritur, delet quod mox laudaveri^ in se,
Qui cupit teternae donari froudis honore.
/(^Sj ^ Eirenfeus' Marrow of Alchemy, book i. p. 12.
/ - Esdras, cap. viii. book i.
The Mysteries. 191
CHAPTER III.
The ]\Iysterks contirmed.
It is necessary that the soul, when purified, should associate
with its generator. — Porphyry, Anx. to InteUiyih.
WE have so far developed the nature of the inter-
nal life only, as it was at first revealed to the
aspirant in the Lesser Mysteries ; and this was the only
popular initiation open to all. It represented, accord-
ing to the accounts, a new and fertile field of natural
contemplation which every one was at liberty to ap-
propriate, and where each roamed at pleasure without
rule or subordination, and without that consent and
sympathy which a uniformity of life produces.
Previous to the purificative rites little change,
therefore, was effected. It gave a passing experience
to the multitude, and in a few^ awakened the desire
and hope of better things ; just as amongst us Mes-
rism, which of all modern arts is most pertinent to
this philosophy as working in the same matter, affords
entrance^ with the imagination of another life. And
more than this, in w^ell-conditioned cases, we have ^
proof of the intrinsical inteUigence and power of the
Free Spirit which can expatiate into the whole circum-
ference of its sphere and reveal hidden things, exhi-
biting a variety of gifts ; it can philosophize also more
or less well according to the direction, natural purity,
and relaxation of the sensual bond. But not all that
men wonder at in the present day, the insensibility,
the cures, the mental exaltation, nor much more of
the same class which the trance spontaneously deve-
lops even in the best subjects, could satisfy the exact-
ing reason of our forefathers ; desirous rather to in-
vestigate the Thing itself, the subject of so many mar-
/(r^6/CAJiAy
^
192 More Esoteric View.
vels, they passed the first phenomena to look for
Causes, experimenting within.
Volo ovum philosophorum dissolvere et partes phi-
losophic^ hominis investigare, nam hoc est initium ad
alia — says the experimental Friar ;^ and to concen-
trate the whole vitality, to turn the spiritual eye, to
purify and analyze the total essence and draw forth
the true Efficient and to know it in coidentity, this
was their object and the Art of Theurgy. For it is
not, as they say, that the Spirit is free from material
bondage, or able to range the universe of her own
sphere, that guarantees the truth of her revealments,
or helps the consciousness on to subjective experience ;
for this a concentrative energy is needed, and an intel-
lect penetrating into other spheres, rather than discur-
sive in its own.
There are many ways known and practised of en-
trancing the senses, and the key of the Hermetic ves-
tibule may be said to be already in our hands, which
are able to dissolve the sensible medium and convert
it to the experience of another lifc.^ But the order
^ Eog. Bacboni de Mirab. Potest. Artis ct Xatui\T, Ars Aiiri-
fera, vol. ii. p. 342.
2 AVe adopt tbe term dissolve bcre iu accordance witli tbe obi
doctrine ; vaiyiug tbeories bavc been proposed to explain tbe
cbange tliat takes place in tbe vital relationsbip of tbe patient iu
tlie mesmeric trance : some bave tliongbt tbe sensible medinm is
drawn away by a superior attraction of life in tbe agent ; otbers,
tbat it is overcome, or inclnded, or arrested, or destroyed ; but
tbe Alcbemists, witb one accord, say it ougbt to be dissolved ;
and, in default of better autbority, sball we not suppose it so to be
dissolved, or tbat it ougbt to be, tbe alkali by tbe acid, tbe dark
dominion of tbe selfbood by tbe magnetic friction of its proper
ligbt, tbe sensible or animal into tbe vegetable, tlie cerebral into
tbe ganglionic life ? Corpora ttfei qui^ vult pui-gare oportet fluxa
facere, says tbe autbor of tbe Eosarium, tbat tbe compact eartby
body of sense may be rarified and flow as a passi\ e watery spirit.
Tbe beginning of tbe work, says Albcrtus IMagnus, is a perfect
solution ; and all tbat we teacb is notbiug else but to dissolve and
recongeal tbe spirit, to make tbe fixed volatile and tbe volatile
fixed, until tbe total natn.re is perfected by tbe reiteration, botb
in its Solary and Lunar form. — Alberti Secret. Tract. Artis Auri-
ferae, p. 130.
The Mysteries. 193
in which the next solution, or resolution rather, was
operated which was to translate the consciousness un-
derneath this medium by obscuration, towards the
Central Source, is known probably to very few in
the present day, for it is entirely concealed from
the world : they only, amongst the ancients who
had fulfilled the previous rites and undergone all
the required ordeals, were entrusted with the pass-
port. It discovers a fearful mystery in the opening
sensation of power, in a life which, at its entrance, is
described as dark, delusive, and dangerous, and more
corrupted far than the foregoing, but through which
it is quite necessary to pass before inquiry can hope
to meet its object in the Elysian light.
Tenent media omnia sylvse,
Cocytusque sinu labens circumfluit atro.
Betwixt these regions and that upper light,
Deep forests and impenetrable night
Possess the middle space ; the infernal bounds,
Cocytus, with his sable wave surrounds.^
We are aware that the descent to the Infernal regions
and all those highly wrought descriptions of the poets,
concerning the riches and powerful allurements of
Pluto's kingdom and Hades, have been looked upon,
and very naturally, as purely imaginative, and the re-
presentations of the same in the mysteries as a pic-
torial or pantomimic show. But as we have hitherto
been enabled to regard the minor celebrations from an
esoteric point of view, shewing their relationship to
more modern experience and the Hermetic art, we
hope to continue on our adventure, being not without
precedent either or guiding authority over the same
ground. For is it not absurd to suppose that men
should liave philosophized and composed so many ex-
cellent and sublime discourses from the contemplation
of shadows only ? But setting aside such a notion, nei-
ther do we conceive that by Hades, or that profound
Lethe, the ancients understood a corporeal nature, or
1 Dryden's ^neid, lib. vi. 130.
o
194 More Esoteric View.
this fleshly existence of ours, or anything in fact
with which ordinary observation makes us acquainted ;
but the whole allusion is to a state of vital submersion
in the Mysteries, when the consciousness is artificially
drawn about the penetralia of its first life. Nor, if
we may credit accounts, is the descent difficult, or so
far off, but the infernal gates lie open to mortal men
on earth ; but because of the arduous nature of the
re-ascent and for the sake of securing it, lest unpre-
pared souls, presuming to enter, should be taken cap-
tive by deluding and fatal desires, and work irremedi-
able evil there, every precaution has been instituted to
keep the way a secret fi*om the world, as well for its
own sake as for the cause of justice and divine wis-
dom about to be revealed ; wherefore the Sybil warns
JEneas of the danger of his undertaking in those me-
morable lines.
Facilis descensus Averni ; *
Noctes atque dies patet atri janiia Ditis :
Sed revocare gradum superasque evadere ad auras,
Hoc opus, hie labor est. Pauci quos sequus amavit
Jupiter, aut ardens evexit ad a^thera virtus,
Diis geniti potuere.*
The grand requirement of the Mysteries after the
first purificative rites, (the inclination being already
freed fi'om the dominion, and all the superficial progeny
of sense,) was that the will should conceive within itself
a motive purely rational to withstand the temptations
of its next including sphere ; that it might be enabled
to follow the true path upward, penetrating through
darkness, and defilements, and dissolution even, to the
discovery of Wisdom in her hglit abode. To this
^neas accordingly is directed by the Sybil, w^iom we
follow, after her warning already given, to search for
that well-distinguished, most mysterious golden bough.
Aureus et foliis et lento vimine ramus,
Junoni infernae sacer.^
Without which as a propitiation he may not venture
I .Eneid, lib. vi. 126. 2 jdem, 136,
The Mysteries. 195
on the subterranean research. But it may be asked,
why this myrtle branch was represented to be of gold.
Not merely for the sake of the marvellous, Warburton
tells us, we may be assured. A golden bough was
literally part of the sacred equipage in the shows, a
burden which the Ass, who carried the mysteries, we
may believe, was proud of. But of what kind this
branch was, Apuleius partly indicates in his procession
of the Initiated into the Mysteries of Isis, where we
find it connected with the Mercurial caduceus and
treated as a most important symbol in initiatory
rites ;^ which we therefore understand ontologically,
as a ray of living light, golden and flexible, the
true Brancha Spiritualis of Raymond Lully. Intel-
lectusihabens subtilem ad intelligendum res intelligi- /I Tz^^tZ'ua^^KJ-i
biles •} — insinuating by rational penetration alone
through the murky circumference of the chloric ether
into its own congenial life, which is Proserpine, and
that lapsed soul of ours, seated in her dark M'postasis
.unknown ; whose vapour is so subtile and transient
that nothing but the glance of its proper intellect by
faith can arrest it. And those doves that lead the way
too, are they not known to our Alchemists and those
chosen seats?
But to be brief; it is only by exceeding zeal and
piety of intention, such as is ascribed to /Eneas in
search of his father, and a prevailing reason, that
the seeking mind becomes fitted for establishment
in her essence and percipient of her final duty to
separate the good and reject the evil therein by birth
allied ; that she may know to what she ought to
aspire, dismissing every other consideration, where
desires are images and will their act. Thus, Plato
says, *fea^ it is necessary that a man should have his
right opinion as firm as adamant in him when he de-
scends into Hades, that there likewise he may be un-
moved by riches or any such hke evils, and may not,
falling into tyrannies and such other practices, do in-
^ Metam. lib. xi.
- Arbor, X, Scientije Hnmanalis, p. 99.
o 2
196 More Esoteric View.
curable mischiefs and himself suffer still greater ; but
that he may know how to choose the middle life as
to those things, and to shun extremes on either hand,
both in this life as far as possible and in the whole
hereafter.^ And again, in the Seventh Book of the Re-
public— He who is not able by the exercise of his rea-
son to define the idea of the Good, separating it from
all other objects and piercing, as in a battle, through
every kind of argument, endeavouring to confute, not
according to opinion but according to essence, and pro-
ceeding through all the dialectic energies with an un-
shaken reason — he who cannot accomplish this, nei-
ther knows he the Good itself, nor anything that is
properly denominated the Good. And would you not
say that such a one, if he apprehended any certain
truth or image of reality, would apprehend it rather
through the medium of opinion than of science ; that
in the present life he is sunk in sleep and conversant
in the delusions of dreams ; and that descending into
Hades, before he is roused to a vigilant state, he will
be overwhelmed with a sleep perfectly profound?^ To
fall asleep in Hades was indeed to be absorbed, with-
out the incumbrance of body, in all its defilements ;
according to the philosopher, the direst evil that can
befal any one ; or, as Virgil has it, — to be a king
in hell.
But with all the warnings of difficulties, and dangers,
. . y and death, to be encountered, no hero or |j,inii iimii
oie/yrvC-a^M. occurs in the poets, but he sometime descended to
the Infernals, and had fi-ee egress thereafter to the
Elysian Fields ; but two are described as suffering for
the attempt — Theseus and Pirithous, who, as Proclus
admirably explains, were detained there — the one be-
cause he was too much a lover of corporeal beauty, the
other through his natural inability to sustain the
arduous altitude of divine contemplation. In the sixth
book of the vEneid, Virgil has gracefully set forth
the whole transaction of his successful hero, with the
' Republic, book x. ^ Idem, book vii.
The Mysteries. 197
labours and difficulties, and appalling visions that at-
tended on the outset of his pious research ; all which
has been shown by Warburton ^ and other learned
commentators, to bear close allusion to the Mysteries,
in which we have reason also to believe the poet him-
self was profoundly initiated, and whose allegoric
conduct, therefore, we pursue as an inquiry of In-
tellect after its Paternal Source.
To continue, then, in order of the tradition: after
the ordeal rites had been undergone, and the few who
were found fit, selected for further initiation, the con-
cession of more arcane mysteries succeeded.
Gressus removete prophani
Jam furor humanus nostro de pectore sensua
Expulit.=^
As the consciousness passing the middle region, clear
and rational from out the Aquaster, enters the Fire
World, and the Sybil leads her hero to the dark
descent.
Spelunca alta fuit, vastoque immania hiatu,
Scrupea, tuta lacu nigro nemorumque tenebris ;
-1 Quam super baud ullae poterant impune volantes
tA^e^L Tend ere -it* pennis : talis sese halitus atris
Faucibus efFundens supera ad convexa ferebat,
TJnde locum Graii dixerunt nomine Aornum.^
And what does all this imagery point at, but the
thickening darkness of the nether air verging to the
chaos of mattei' flowing out from the perpetual motion ^ ^:ju/jpC
of the first life; destitute of elasticity, Aormis, heavy
Hke that of an enclosed cave, and vast ; dangerous, as
it is said by some, giving forth a murky odour, like
that of graves. It is the Black Saturn of the adepts,
and that appearing corruption that precedes the mys-
tical death and regeneration into new life : as de-
scribing the same ens, they call it lapis niger vilis
fcetens et dicitur origo mundi et oritur sicut germi-
^ Divine Legation, vol. i. p. 345, &c.
^ Claudian de Raptu Proserpinfe, sub initio.
^ .Eueid, lib. vi. 2,37.
198 More Esoteric ViEvr.
nantia. Sendivogius calls it Urinus Saturni, with
which he waters his lunar and solar plants ; and ano-
/ ther, — Ex mari meo oriuntur nebulse, quae ferunt aquas
(wJ benedictas et ips^ irrigant terras et educant herbas et
/ flores. With this allusion, the Alchemists also call
the Ether their mineral tree ; for they were not so
careful to hide this in general, seeing the true species
was laid asleep in sense, and doubly locked up, as it
were, within both corporeal and spiritual confines, and
how far the world was off from the art of unfolding or
profiting by it. The reception of jEneas in Hades is
next described.
/jjyyyyjyy^^^ Ecce autem, prinii sub limiae soils et ortus,
Sub pedibus mugire solum, et juga coepta mover!
Sylvarum, vlsaeque canes ululare per umbram
Adventante Dea.^
And Claudian, to the same effect, poetises the tremen-
dous advent.
Jam mllil cernuntur trepidis delubra mover^ t/
Sedlbus, et claram dispergere fulmina lucem
l^ Adveutum testata de|. : jam magnus ab Imis
Audltur fremitus terrls, templumque remugit
' (y^j Cecropi^m; sanctasque faces attolllt Eleuslii ;
/ Angues Triptolemi stridunt, et squamea curvls
CoUa levant attrita jugis
Ecce procul temias Hecate variata figiu'as
Exorltur.^
And all this, extravagant and fanciful though it should
appear, has been echoed by philosophers, and the
Greek descriptions agree in each remarkable particular.
Plato, amongst others, likens the descent of the soul
into these oblivious realms of generation to an earth-
quake and other strong convulsions of nature. Psellus,
in his valuable commentary, describes the apparitions
procured by the Chaldaic rites as of two kinds : the
first called superinspcctiou, when he who celebrates the
divine rites sees a mere apparition, as, for instance, of
/7. 1 .-Eneid, lib.^v. 255.
■^ De Raptu Proserpinse, sub init.
The Mysteries. 199
light in some form or figure, concerning which the
oracle advises, that if any one sees such a liglit, he ap
ply not his mind to it, nor esteem the voice proceeding
thence to be true ; sometimes, likewise, to many
initiated persons, there appear Hghts in various forms
and figures. These apparitions are created by the
passions of the soul, in performing divine rites, mere
appearances, having no substance, and therefore not
signifying anything true.^ Which vaporous estate of
universal being, the poets also fabulously concealed
under the satyric form of Pan, who exhibited himself
in every variety of atrocious disguises of wild beasts,
and monsters, and demoniacal appearances, that he
might affright those who would captivate him.
Corripit liic subita trepidus formidine ferrum
^neas, strictamqiie aciem venientibus offert.
Et ui docta comes tenues sine corpore vitas
Admoneat volitare cava sub imagine formae,
Irruat, et frustra ferro diverberet umbras.^
For it is the imaginative spirit which is the maker of
these images, as in dreams, only more intense. As
moisture condensed in the ah' constitutes clouds, which
the wind disposes in various forms, so our pneumatic
vehicle, becoming humid and condensed beneath her
heaven, presents many formidable apparitions to the
inner sense, and all the race of demons, so much cele-
brated by antiquity, appear to have their origin in a
life of this kind, viz., from an included vapour of the
imagination : nor these, individually belonging, were
seen only ; but, as it is recorded, each by rapport in
this state becomes conversant with the whole phantas-
magoric universe of his sphere : hence the platitude of
the descriptions and poetical crowding of images to
the individual sense. Proclus, commenting on the
1 Psellus de OracuU, 14, 19. See also Oracula Cbaldseorum
Demones Sacrificia. Neqiie naturse, voces per se visibile simnla-
crum. jSTon enim oportet illoa te spectare, antequam corpus sacris
piirgetur. Quando animas mulcentes, semper a sacris abducunt.
Ergo ex sinibus terrae exiliunt terrestres canes. Nvinquam verum
corpus mortali homini monstrantes.
2 .Eneid, lib. vi. 290.
200 More Esoteric View.
First A/cibiacIes oi' Plato, asserts that material images,
assuming the appearance even of things divine, con-
stantly attended on the Mysteries, drawing towards
them souls not yet sufficiently purified, and separating
them from truth. And that such actually appeared to
the Muitai, during the evaporative process of purifi-
cation, and before the lucid vision of the light within,
is further shown in the following passage of the same
experienced theologist. In the most holy Mysteries,
says he, before the presence of the god, the impulsive
forms of certain terrestrial demons appear, which call
the attention oft' from undefiled advantages to matter.
And again, — as in the most holy Mysteries, the mystics
at first meet with the multiform and many-shaped
genera which are hurled forth before the gods ; but on
entering the interior part of the Temple, unmoved and
guarded by the sacred rites, they genuinely receive
into their bosom divine illumination, and divested of
their garments, as they would say, participate of the
Divine Nature, the same method takes place in the
speculation of Wholes.^
For the reason of this life imitates, inasmuch as it
is able, and obeys instinctively its motive light ; and
as the natural intellect is liable to error, so the spi-
ritual also, not yet perfected, is liable to be caught in
the traps of these exterior spirits, which being, as
Basil Valentine, in his Alchemical Chariot, observes,
endowed with senses and understanding, know Arts,
and have in themselves an occult operative hfe ; giving
testimony also of their virtue in the art of healing
and other secrets, by w^hich they deceive and detain
the unwary from the search of better things.^
The writings of the middle ages abound Hkewise
with descriptions of these demoniacal natures ; regular
classifications of them are given by Agrippa,-^ and Tri-
' Proclus on the Theology of Plato, vol. i. p. 9. De Auima et
Demone, throughout.
2 Triumplial Chariot of Antimony, Kirchriugius, Engl. edit. p.
IG.
•* Occult Philosophy, bonk ii.
/
The Mysteries. 201
themius;^ and Psellus ;^Proclus,^/amblicus,* and Por- -^
phyry,^ allude to their material efficacy and operation in
Divine Works, where desu'e, entering into those aerial
forms, is said to vivify them ; and the Chaldaic oracle
even persuades that there are pure demons. — Natura ,
suadet esse demonas puros, et mali materiae germina Q^
utilia et bona, — and that the germinations even of evil
matter are of use.^ Synesius mentions them also as
the progeny of matter, and as having an energetic
virtue, but at natural war with the truth-seeking / . /
soul;^ and Proclus, in his Hymn to the Sun, ^cgo- aes^e^'Tx^iTej
^-cratcG them as
Demons wlio macliiiiate a thousand ills,
Pregnant with ruin to our wretched souls,
That merged beneath life's dreadful sounding sea
In body's chain they willingly may toil ;
Nor e'er remember in the dark abyss
The splendid palace of their sire sublime.
And it is the dread of such an oblivion there below
that the oracle announces to intellect in those solemn
tones — Ducat animse profunditas immortalis oculosque
affatim, — Omnes sursum extende. Let the immortal
depth of thy soul be predominant, and all thy eyes
extend upwards ; incline not to the dark world whose
depth is a faithless bottom and Hades dark all over,
squalid, delighting in images, unintelligible, precipi-
tous, and a depth always rolhng full of stupidity and
folly.^
Umbrarum hie locus est, somni noctisque soporae.^
If the soul on its depaVture, says Porphyry, still pos-
sesses a spirit turbid from humid exhalations, it then
attracts to itself a shadow and becomes heavy ; and a
1 De Septem Intelligentii &c.
2 Michaele Psello de Demonibus.
3 Excerpta M. Ficini ex Grraecis Procli Com. in Alcibiad.
^ De Mysteriis ^gypt-Chaldeor.
* De Divinis atque Demonibus.
" Oracula Zoroastri.
"^ De Somni^.
^ Zoroastri Oracula Aninia, Corpus, Homo.
'^ ^neid, lib. vi. 389,
S
202 More Esoteric View.
spirit of this kind naturally strives to penetrate into
the recesses of the earth, unless a certain other cause
draws it in a contrary direction : as, therefore, the soul
when sun'ounded with this testaceous and terrene
vestment necessarily lives on the earth, so likewise
when it attracts a moist spirit, it is necessarily sur-
rounded with the image. But it attracts moisture
when it continually endeavours to associate with
nature, whose operations are effected in moisture, and
which are rather under than upon the earth : when,
however the soul earnestly desires to depart from
nature, {i.e. strives to penetrate centrally without ex-
ploring the intermediate spheres,) then she becomes a
dry splendour without shadow and without a cloud or
mist. For moisture gives subsistence to a mist in the
air ; but dryness constitutes a dry splendour from ex-
halation.^ Hence that renowned saying of Heraclitus,
that a dry soul is the wisest, for the soul looking at
things posterior to herself beholds the shadow and
images of her vaporous vehicle ; but when she is con-
verted to herself, she evolves her proper essences and
irradiates the whole circumference with her own abun-
dant oxygenating and dispersive light. ^ Thus Hermes :
Extract from the ray its shadow and its obscurity, by
which the clouds hang over it, and corrupt and keep
away the light ; by means of its constriction, also, and
tiery redness it is burned ; take, my son, this watery
and corrupted nature, which is as a coal holding the
fire, which if thou shalt withdraw so often until the
redness is made pure, then it will associate with thee,
by whom it was cherished and in whom it rests. -^
Visitabis interiora terra? rectificaudo, invenies
Occultum lapidem, veram mediciuam.
Visit the interiors of the earth rectifying, says the
sage, and thou shalt find the hidden Stone, the true
^ Au.vil. to Intelligib. sect. 1.
- Proclus on tlie Theology of Plato, book i. cap. iii.
^ Tract. Aur. cap. ii.
The Mysteries. 203
medicine : not the feculent dead soil, but our dark di-
vulsed chaotic life from sense, which opened and recti-
fied, dissolved and reunited, is changed from an earthly
to a spiritual body, by rapport divine. In such a pro-
cess it would seem the Alchemists discovered the hidden
principles of nature, as, experimentally passing through
the animal and vegetable into the mineral circulation of
her Law, they describe the life of all things here below
to be a thick fire imprisoned in a certain incombustible
aerial moisture ; — Ignis ruber super dorsum ignis can-
didi — which moisture in its native state, before it is pu-
rified by the inflowing light of reason, is that Hades
we are treating of, the Purgatory of the wise, wherein
the consciousness, becoming artificially wrapped by the
Mysteries, continues for a while in a state of solicitude
and painful amazement, unable of itself to discover,
through so great a cloud of darkness, that Hypostatic
Reality towards which it is instructed evermore to as-
pire. And until this attraction is found and finally
established in union, the opposive powers display their
mutual forces in discordant dissolute array, as the Al-
chemists, with all who have been profoundly experi-
enced in this ground, relate each in his own instruc-
tive way, warning about the conduct through it, and
the many real, though chimerical horrors and entic-
ing phantoms that haunt around, guarding the secret
chamber of their mineral soul. For, as the sage in
Enoch declares it, lead and tin are not produced from
earth as the primary fountain of their production ; but
there is an angel standing upon it, and that angel
struggles to prevail.^
Vaughan notes the same in the Regio P hantastica
of his Hieroglyphic, and elsewhere, speaking of the
mineral nature or First Matter, he says, The eye of man
never saw her twice under one and the same shape ;
but as clouds driven by the wind are forced to this and
that figure, but cannot possibly retain one constant
form, so is she persecuted by the fire of nature;^ as,
^ Book of Enoch, chap. Ixiv. 7, 8.
2 Lumen de Lumine, Introd. Coehim Terrse, page 90.
204 More Esoteric View.
by the re-entering Light of Reason in the Mysteries,
which is that Sulphur of adepts, causing all this mani-
fold scenery in the disruption of life. O Nature ! the
most wonderful creatrix of natures, cries Hermes, which
containest and separatest all things in a middle prin-
ciple. Our Stone comes with light and with light it
is generated, and then it brings forth the clouds, and
darkness which is the mother of all things.^ Ray-
mond Lully, also, in his Compeiidiinn of Alchemy, calls
the first principles of the Art, Spiritus fugitivos in sere 6Ui/iz
condensatos, in forma monstrorum diversoruni et
animalium etiam hominum, qui vadunt sicut nubes,
modo hinc modo illuc ; that is to say, certain fugitive
spirits condensed in the air, in shape of divers mon-
sters, beasts, and men, which move like clouds hither
and thither.
In an outward acceptation such an announcement of
principles would be absurd, or what possible interpre-
tation could aftbrd them a place in common sense ? or
whence, if they be true, (and Lully's name stands well
for their defence,) were they so probably brought to the
cognizance of the philosopher, as from the self-inspec-
tion of them in life ? But Lully, indeed, calls these
chaotic forms first principles ; not because they are
permanent or their essence rational, in that unctuous
dark condition, but because within the material ex-
treme of this life, when it is purified, the Seed of the
Spirit is at last found : which the adept further de-
scribes asy^ a decompounded ens, extremely heavy,
shining through the darkness like a fiery star, being
full of eyes like pearls or aglets. For it is the whole
O/ Dem^gorgon, as yet not actually animated by contact
of his own returning light. The father of it, says
Vaughan, is a certain inviolable mass, for the parts of
it are so firmly united you can neither pound them to
dust, nor separate them by violence of fire.^ This is
the rock in the wilderness, because in great obscurity
and difficult to find the way of, compassed about with
' Tract Aur. cap. iii. ^ Lumen dc Lumine, p.
68.
The Mysteries. 205
darkness, clouds, and exhalations, as it were dwelling
in the bowels of the earth. — Our viscous soul, as
Synesius calls it, circulating in the midst of all her
Adamical defilements, and which Plato compares to
that marine Glaucus so deformed by the foreign
weeds and parasites that had grown about him, that in
every respect he resembled a beast rather than what
he really was.^ In such a deplorable condition is the
divine germ of humanity said to be beheld under the
thousand evils of its birth.
Monstrum, horrendum, informe, ingens cui lumen ademptum.
There is a curious figurative account given in a
letter circulcated under the name of the Brethren of the
Rosy Cross, which appears to have reference to this
passage of initiatory progress in the Mysteries. It
may be rendered thus : —
There is a mountain situated in the midst of the
earth or centre of the world, which is both amall and
great. It is soft also above measure, hard, and
strong. It is far off, and near at hand ; but, by the
providence of God, it is invisible. In it are hidden
most ample treasures, which the world is not able to
value. This mountain, by env)^ of the Devil, who
always opposes the glory of God and the felicity of
man, is compassed about with very cruel beasts and
ravenous birds, which make the way thither both diffi-
cult and dangerous ; and therefore, hitherto, because
the time is not yet come, the way thither could not be
sought after by all ; but only by the worthy man's
self-labour and investigation.
To this mountain you shall go in a certain night,
when it comes most long and dark ; and see that you
•pre'pare yourselves by prayer. Insist upon the way
that leads to the mountain, but ask not of any man
where it lies ; only follow your guide who will offer
himself to you and will meet you in the way.^
^ Republic, book vii.
' Themistius relates how, when cnterino- the mystic dome, tlie
206 More Esoteric View.
This guide will bring you to the mountain at mid-
night, when all things are silent and dark. It is neces-
sary that you arm yourself with a resolute heroic
courage, lest you fear those things that will happen
and fall back.^ You need no sword or other bodily
weapon, only call upon your God, sincerely and heartily
seeking Him.
When you have discovered the mountain, the first
miracle that will appear is this ; a most vehement and
very gi'eat wind that will shake the whole mountain and
shatter the rocks to pieces. You will be encountered
by lions, dragons, and other terrible wild beasts ; but
fear not any of these things.'^ Be resolute, and take
heed that you return not, for your guide who brought
you thither will not suffer any evil to befall you. As
for the treasure, it is not yet discovered ; but it is very
near. After this wind will come an earthquake, which
will overthrow those things which the wind had left.
Be sure you fall not off. The earthqitakehe'mg passed,
there shall follow a Jire that will consume the earthly
rubbish, and discover the treasure: but as yet you
initiated is seized at first with solicitude and perplexity, unable to
move a step forward, at a loss to find the entrance to that road
which is to lead him to the place which he desires ; till the
conductor, laying open for him the vestibule, he enters &c. — See
Warburton's Divine Legation, the Extract, vol. 1, p. 309. So the
Sybil for ^Eneas.
Ille duecm hand timidis vadentem passibus aequat.
Tlie adepts, many of them, are at some pains to denote the
peculiar disposition and appearance of this guide, and the Chal-
daic oracle promises that the mortal, approaching to fire, will
have a light from divinity.
' Nunc auimis opus, -^nea, nunc peetore firmo. ^Eneid, lib. vi.
260.
^ Multaque pr.Tterea variarum monstra ferarum
Centauri in foribus stabulant Scyll?eque bilbrmes,
Et centumgeminus Briareus, ac BeUua Lernje
Horrendum stridens, flammisque armata Chimera;
Gorgones, Harpyiaeque et forma tricorporis umbrae.
Corripit hie subita trepidus formidine ferrum
^Eneas, strictamque aciem venientibus ofFert.
Et ni docta comes, &c. Idem, 285.
The Mysteries. 207
cannot see it.^ After all these things, and near day-
break, there shall be a great calm, and you shall see
the day-star arise, and the darkness will disappear ;
you will conceive a great treasure ; the chiefest thing,
and the most perfect, is a certain exalted tincture with
which the world, if it served God and were worthy of
such gifts, might be tinged and turned into most pure
gold.
And thus much of the concordance of these famous
Christian philosophers who, if they had not promised
gold, and proclaimed prodigies after an entertaining
Arabian Nights' fashion, would never, probably, have
been thought of by the world, or inquired after, as
they were, over Europe during the last century, but
without success. For they who have this knowledge
know where and how likewise to bestow it, discerning
betwixt the lovers of mammon and of truth. Fearing
the dangerous curiosity of the vulgar herd also, we
observe, the Greeks pass by in silence the physical
revealments of these Tartarean realms, or, poetizing
the great experience, evaporate in fancy, as it were,
the teeming life therein opened with its overflowing
spirit and light of increase.
Let none admire
That riches grow in hell ; that soil may best
Deserve the precious bane ; and here let those
"Who boast in mortal things, and wondering tell
Of Babel and the works of Memphian kings,
Learn how the greatest monuments of fame
And strength and art are easily outdone
By spirits reprobate.^
And further, how these again may be surpassed and
vanish, as Aladdin's rapid castle into air, before the
1 Through fire the divine oracles more plainly teach, that those
stains are all finally obliterated that accede to the soul from gene-
ration and which conceal the immortal principle in unconscious
oblivion for the sake of vivifying the mortal sense. But the
inquisitive light once entering as a ferment combats and pene-
trates through the surrounding darkness until meeting its proper
pole, and conjointly kindling with it, absorbs, transmutes, and
2 Milton's Paradise Lost, book i. 676.
h
208 More Esoteric View.
discriminative radiance of celestial light. And as in
the pursuit of other sciences and arts, thought, and
persevering labour and experience are required to
ensure success, so should those delusive visions and
errors which occur during the conscious transference
to a more excellent condition of being be considered,
in like manner, not as derogatory or casting a doubt
at all upon the ultimate truths of divine science, but
as obstacles rather contrary to it i»id^e»3se, as evil
is to good everywhere adverse.
We do not, therefore, linger here any more to con-
sider the different allotments, the longer or shorter
periods wdiich engage pure or impure souls in Hades,
their habits or the triple path arising from their es-
sences, all which is indicated in the Platonic discourses,
and most of which abound with sj^mbolical theories
and poetical descriptions concerning the descent, as-
cent, and intermediate wanderings, expiatory punish-
ment and sacrifices, and things of a similar import,
which the rites enjoined, before the aspirants, by the
Greeks called JMustai, were passed on by the Hiero-
phant of the inner temple to its immortal abode : for
such was Tartarus, the next beyond Hades, according
to the Ethnics, the alone eternal hypostasis to be
redeemed from thence, from the oblivious realms of
generation, into the Elysian recollection of Wisdom in
the highest consciousness. But the soul is said to be
in Hades all the while that her hypostasis continues
in darkness ; that is, we would say, whilst she regards
her image objectively, before attaining to the experi-
mental knowledge. And here the Lesser Mysteries
occultates the surrounding medium into its own abyssal life.
See Tract. Aureus, cap. iv. Burn the brasen body with an exceed-
ing strong fire, &c. ; and Eccles. cap. iv. vei'se 28. Go forth, and
stand upon the mount before the Lord. And, behold, the Lord
passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and
brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord ; but the Lord was
not in the wind : and after the wind an earthquake ; but the Lord
was not in the earthquake ; and after the earthquake a fire, but
the Lord was not in the fire : and after the fire, a small still voice.
1 Kings xix. 11, 12.
THE MYSTERIES. 209
ended ; the soul, as it were, on the borders of the
Stygian lake in view of Tartarus, wdiich Euripides has
elegantly styled also " a dream of death."
And the conformity between death and this next
initiation, is strikingly exhibited in a passage preserved
by Stoboeus from an ancient record ; it has been well
rendered by Dr. Warburton, and runs thus : — The
mind is affected and agitated in death, just as it is in
initiation into the Grand Mysteries. And word answers
to word, as well as thing to thing : for TEAETTAN is
to die, and TEAEI^OAI is to be initiated; the first
stage is nothing but errors and uncertainties ; labour-
ings, wanderings, and darkness. And now, arrived on
the verge of death and initiation, everything wears a
dreadful aspect ; it is all horror, trembling, sweating,
and affrightment. But this scene once over, a mi-
raculous and divine light displays itself, and shining
plains, and flowery meadows, open on all hands before
them. Here they are entertained with hymns and
dances, and with sublime and sacred knowledges, and
with reverend and holy visions. And now become
perfect and initiated, they are free, and no longer un-
der restraint ; but crowned and triumphant, they walk
up and down in the regions of the Blessed.^
But all, during the transition, is described as wear-
ing a fearful aspect ; and dread fills the soul about to
relinquish her natal bond in life ; neither may it be
irrelevant to call in mind that repeated advice of
Solomon, that — the Fear of God is the beginning of
Wisdom ; — as the spiritual regard in the mysteries, al-
ready involuted, and drawing towards its end, with awe,
begins to perceive itself in that Identic Source, And
shall we not believe that it was out of the same inti-
mate experience that the son of Sirach, inciting men to
search after the Divine Wisdom, confesses, that — at
first she will walk with him by crooked ways, and bring
fear and dread upon him, and torment him with her dis-
ciplines, until she may trust his soul, and try him by
her law? Then she will return the straight way unto
1 Divine Legation, vol. i. p. 342.
P
210 More Esoteric View.
him, says the Divine teacher, and comfort him, and
show him her Secret. The root of Wisdom, is to fear
the Lord, and the branches thereof are long life ;
strive for the truth, even unto death, and the Lord
shall fight for thee.^ So, likewise, we read, that
there is in Alchemy a certain noble body, which is
moved from one lord to another ; in the beginning of
which there is suffering with vinegar ; but, in the end,
joy with exultation O happy gate of Blackness !
cries the adept, which art the passage to so glonous a
change ! Study, therefore, whoever appUest thyself to
this art, only to know this secret ; for to know this,
indeed, is to know all, but to be ignorant of this, is to
be ignorant of all. Take away, therefore, the vapour
from the water, and the blackness from the oily t'mc-
tiire, and death from the faces ; and by Dissolution
thou shalt possess a triumphant reward, even that in
and by which the possessors live/^
In the beginning of Phcedo, Plato, by Socrates, as-
serts, that it is the business of philosophers to study
how to be dead. Plotinus, at the same time repro-
bating suicide, has the same doctrine ; but Porphyry,
in his Auxiliaries to the Perception of Intelligible Na-
tui^es, explains the meaning of these others ; for there
is, says he, a twofold death, the one indeed universally
known, in which the body is liberated from the soul ;
but the other peculiar to philosophers, in which the
soul is liberated from the body : nor does the one en-
tirely follow the other. That which nature binds,
nature also dissolves ; that which the soul binds, the
soul likewise can dissolve : nature, indeed, binds the
body to the soul, but the soul binds herself to the
body. Nature therefore liberates the body from the
soul, but the soul may also liberate herself from the
body.^ That is to say, if she know how, and have the
right disposition awarded, she may dissolve her own
' Ecclesiasticus, chap. i. v. 20 ; chap. iv. v. 17, 18, 28.
2 Hermes, Tract. Aur. cap. ii. Eiplcy Eevived, 5th gate, p.
357.
3 Aux. to Intel!, sect. 1, S, 9.
The Mysteries. 211
conceptive vehicle, even the parental bond, and return
consciously (the elementarj'- principles remaining, nor
yet suffered to depart) , under the dominion of another
law to life. That was the^" precious death," spoken of
by the Hebrews and Academics, this the " happy gate
of blackness" celebrated by the old adepts, the " head
of Hermes' crow," which is in the beginning of the
work ; that which was fixed, viz. the sensual compact,
is dissolved, and that which is dissolved is renovated,
and hence the corruption and evil of mortality is made
manifest in the ultimate circulation of the matter to be
renewed, and on either side it is a signal of Art. And
all without destruction to the mortal body (if perhaps
some one values this), the willing life was made to pass
out of its present oblivious fall, through regeneration,
into the reminiscent consciousness of her Causal Source,
As the truth-telling Oracle again declares that,
If tliou extend the fiery mind to the work of piety,
Thou shalt preserve the fluxible body likewise.
Even through death, re-entering into and fortifying
it with the elixir of an immortal life. Orandum est ut
sit mens sana in corpore sano.
Seek thou the way of the soul,
Whence and by what order, having served the body,
The same from which thou dost flow, thou must return
And rise up again, joining action to sacred speech.^
Suppose any one beginning at the top of an artificial
edifice, should undertake to decompose it stone by
stone, setting all aside, with the dirt and rubbish, as
he proceeds, he would at last come to the earth which
is at the foundation, and have space to build up anew ;
and thus it would appear to be in the Hermetic pro-
cess. If any one should take the natural life as it
presents itself, opening and analyzing the parts thereof,
spiritually and wisely, one from another, graciously,
as the mandate runs,^ — Terra ab igni, subtile a spisso,
suaviter cum multaingenio, — he would arrive finally at ii
the basement, wherein is hidden the true alkaline ori-
^ Oracula Chaldaica.
p 2
212 More Esoteric View.
ginal of life in its threefold essence separately con-
tained. And this, the adept tells us, is the syllogism it
best behov^es us to look after ; for he that has once
passed the Aquaster, and entered the Fire World, sees
what is both invisible and incredible to common men.
He shall discover the miraculous conspiracy that is
between the Prester and the Sun, the external and in-
ternal fire of life, the thing desiring and the thing
desired. He shall know the secret love of heaven and
earth, and why all influx of fire descends against the
nature of fire, and comes from above downwards, until
having found a body, it reascends therewith in perpe-
tual interchange. He shall know, continues the adept,
and see how the Fire Spirit has its root in the spiritual
fire earth, and receives fi'om it a secret influx upon
which it feeds. A body immarcessible, than which
there is nothing more ancient, vigorous, and young.
/ , The Salt of Saturn, that most abstruse principle of the
O / Stone — the most ancient Demj(gorgon — sethere dempto
/ — deprived of light, whose perpetual motion emanates
the first material universe, and is the mineral soul.
This is the earth, distinguished by Anaxagoras, which
abiding durably in the centre, " hangs loftily," but its
Being is Tartarus ;
And the liglit hating world, and the winding currents
T3y wliich many tilings are swallowed up.
Stoop not down, for a precipice lies below in the earth;
Drawing thro' the ladder whicli hath seven steps,
Beneath which is the throne of Necessity.
Enlarge not thou thy destiny.
The soul will, after a manner, clasp God to herself.^
As Porphyry, in our motto head, declares that — it is
necessary that the soul when purified should associate
with its Generator ; and the virtue of it after this con-
version is said to consist in a scientific knowledge of
true Being, which cannot be obtained either otherwise
or without such a conversion.
^ Oracula Chaldaica.
The Mysteries. 213
O beatam quisquis felix gnarus Dei
Sacrorum, vitam piat ;
Ac aiiimam initiat Orgygis
Bacclians in montibus,
Sacris purus lustrationibus.^
But, perhaps, inquisitive reader, you will very anx-
iously ask, what was said and done? I would tell
you, replies the Epidaurian, if it could he lawfully
told. But hoth the ears and tongue are guilty of in-
discretion. Nevertheless, I will not keep you in sus-
pense with religious desire, nor torment you with a long
continued anxiety. Hear, therefore, but beheve what
is true : The priest, then, all the profane being re-
moved, taking me by the hand, brought me to the
penetralia of the temple. / approached the coujines
of death, and, having trod the threshold of Proserpine,
I returned from it, being carried through all the Ele-
ments. At mid/no'ht I saw the Sun shinino; with a
splendid light ; and I manifestly drew near to the gods
above and beneath, and proximately adored them.
Behold I have narrated to you things of which, though
heard, it is nevertheless necessary that you should be
ignorant.^
By no explanation, nor any familiar analogy do
we here presume to aid the natural intellect to a con-
ception that transcends it, and which can only be at-
tained through the identical experience. Yet reason
may, does perceive it, but abstractly only as an infer-
ence ; yet it is her true Hypostasis, for which, as Isis
for Osiris, she is constantly seeking, her objective
reality in the Great Unknown. The rude uneducated
reason, however, which serves sensibles without reflec-
tion, will not understand ; but that only which, seeing
something more in causation than mere antecedence,
can iimagitte into the intelligible substance of her Law. A^ifZtC*
For there the true Efficient is to be found, which is
not externally developed ; but^ becoming conjoined in
consciousness, the soul knows herself as a Whole
1 Euripides iu Baccliis.
^ Apuleius Metam. book xi.
214 More Esoteric View.
which before knew but a part only of her human
nature ; and proceeding thus, by theurgic assistance,
arrives at her desired end, and participating of Deity,
perceives then and knows, as Plotinus gracefully ex-
presses it, that the supplier of life is present ; and free
from all external perturbation and desire, percipiently
included in the circular necessity of her Law, believes
its revelation which is her very self.
This is the Iiitroapection which Psellus speaks of, as
distinguished from the Superinspectmi which takes
place in Hades. When the initiated person sees the
Divine Light itself without any form or figure; this the
oracle calls Sacro Sancto, for that is seen with a beauty
by sacred persons, and glides up and down pleasantly
through the depths of the world. This will not de-
ceive ; but as the Oracle in fine advises.
When tliou seest a Fire without Eonu,
Shining flashingly through the deptlis of the World,
Hear the voice of Fire.^
The same solemn and articulate instruction is given
in an Indian record, translated by Sir William Jones,
as follows : — Except the First Cause, whatever may
appear or may not appear in the mind, know that to
be the mind's maya (or image or delusion) as of light
or darkness ; as the great elements are in various
beings entering, yet not entering, thus AM I, in them
and yet not in them ; even thus far may inquiry be
made by him who seeks to know the pyiuciple of mind
in union and separation, which must be every where and
always.'^ And in the book of Deuteronomy, fourth chap-
ter, the unfigured form of the Divine Essence, is noted
in several places ; and in the book of Zohar, it is ex-
^ Quando videris forma sine sacram igneam
Colhicentum saltatim totius per profundum mundi,
Audi Ignis Vocem.
Oracula Chaldaica, in fine.
■^ Asiatic Eesoarches, vol. i. p 211.
The Mysteries. 215
plained, that before the descent into creation thuDivinu -Dotrxyy^^*
Nntm'p has no form, and therefore it was forbidden to
represent JKim under any image whatever, ev^en so
much as a letter or point, and in this sense we are to
understand the mandate, — Take good heed unto your-
selves, for ye saw no manner of simihtude on the day
that the Lord spake unto you in Horeb out of the
midst of the fire.^
But then the revelations we have here gathered
(and which are but a small part indeed of what has
been described of the visions, and awful accompani-
ments which took place in the celebration of the
Greater Mysteries) have been explained away as trifling
exhibitions ; orreries, as some say, contrived after the
fashion of Walker's or Lloyd's Eidouranion ; by those
unfigured lights, it has been argued, were meant aste-
roids, whilst the figured are supposed agreeably to re-
present constellations of stars, grouped together in a
more defined form. The whole, in fact, has been re-
garded as a moving panorama and illusory display of
lights. But what extreme of trifling or fantastic folly
has not modern imagination ascribed to the ancient
mind? and how commonly mistaken and useless do
not its best relics remain, for want of a corresponding
intelligence in latter times? Allegories of recondite
experience, truthful fables, symbols replete with in-
struction and refined emblems of art, have been either
trivially interpreted, or condemned as futile without
appeal ; even those life-bound mysteries, those dis- / . /
ciplines, purifications, sacred and primordial rites have / ^ /
gone for notliing, or as good for nothing, whilst As-
tronomy has been the imputed spirit of the whole.
On risk of some ridicule, therefore, and dilettanti
scorn, we continue by our clue, leaving the darker
scenes of life's drama, to look beyond even upon / /
that beautiful sun-lit horizon of the Majidaurentian, / ^^ /
rising to intellectual radiance, as of the real life. Thus
Proclus says, that to the wise indeed all things possess
^ Deuteronomy, chap. iv. v. 15. Zohar, part ii.
216 More Esoteric View.
a silent and arcane tendency ; and Intellect is excited
to the Beautiful with astonishment and motion : for
the illuuiination from it and its efficacy, acutely i)cr-
vade through every soul, and as being the most similar
of all things to the Good, it converts every soul that
surveys it. The soul also, beholding that which is
arcane, shining forth as it were to view, rejoices in and
admires that Vvhich sees, and is astonished about it.
And as in the most holy IMysteries, prior to the mystic
spectacles, those who are initiated are said to be seized
with astonishment and dread, so in Intelligibles, prior
to the participation of the Good, Beauty shining forth
astonishes those that behold it, converts the soul to
itself, and being established in the vestibules (of the
good) shows what that is which is in the adyta, and
what the transcendency is of occult being. Through
these things, therefore, concludes the philosopher, let
it be apparent whence Beauty originates, and how it
lirst shines forth, and also that Animal (life) itself is
the most beautiful of all intelligibles.^ But Apuleius
no less directly indicates the nature of his own mys-
terious revelation where, speaking of the Intellectual
contact which the wise have proved, when they were
separated from body, through the energies of mind, he
says, (calling his divine master also to witness), that
this knowledge sometimes shines forth with a most
rapid corruscation like a bright and clear light in the
most profound darkness.^ And Plato himself, speak-
ing in like manner of the Intellectual Intuition, in his
seventh Epistle, writes that from long converse with
the thing itself, accompanied by a life in conformity to
it, on a sudden a light, as it were a leaping fire, will
be enkindled in the soul, and will there itself nourish
itself.^ And heaven, he adds in another place is the
kindled intelhgence of the First Intelligible, and sight
looking to things above is heaven."* And the sense of
^ Proclus on the Theology of Plato, vol. i. book iii. chap, xviii.
2 On the God of Socrates, in init.
•■' Epistle vii. ; Taylor, vol. v.
■* The Cratylus, and in Timeas.
The Mysteries. 217
sight is celebrated by all these, therefore, as not only
beautiful and useful for the purposes of this life ; but
as a leader in the acquisition of Wisdom. For is it not
that very light which in us looks out beaming in our
eyes that, directed within, and being purified also, and
scientifically inquiring, discovers at last that other
light which is the substance of its own, until light
meeting light apprehends itself alone ?
While thro' the middle of life's boisterous waves,
Thy soiil robust the deep's deaf tumult braves,
Oft beaming from the god's thy piercing sight.
Beholds in paths oblique a sacred light.
Whence rapt from sense with energy divine.
Before her eye immortal splendors shine,
Whose plenteous rays in darkness most profound,
Thy steps directed and illumined round.
Nor was the vision like the dreams of sleep.
But seen whUst vigUant you brave the deep ;
While from your eyes you shake the gloom of night,
The glorious prospect bursts upon your sight. ^
Open the compound creature ; look upon the ele-
ments ; divide the elements, and you shall find the
quintessential nature : open this, continues the adept,
and you shall conceive the subtle altereity of the an-
gelical spirit in which is the divine act, and immediate
beam or Wisdom from God. In this work, therefore,
there concurreth in the separation of the first, a sen-
sible aspect, in the other we behold with intellectual
eyes, so that you may observe how all is in everything,
and everything in all. As Hermes alludes : Qui for-
nacem cum vase nostro construit, novum mundum
conflat. He that maketh a furnace with our glass to
it maketh a new world ;^ — a new hypostasis, and a new
stone, — even that Stone of the Apocalypse, the true
crystalline rock without spot or darkness, that re-
nowned Terra Maga in eethere clarificata, which carries
in its belly wind and fire. Having got this fundamen-
tal of a little new w^orld, says Vaughan, unite the
1 Porphyry's Hymn to Plotinus, Select Works, Preface.
- See Fludd's Mosaica, circa medio.
218 More Esoteric View.
heaven in triple proportion to the earth, and then
apply a generative heat to both, and they will attract
from above the atar-Jire of nature. So hast thou the
p:lory of the whole world, therefore let all obscurity
tiee before thee.^ This is the true Astrum Solis gotten
and conceived, the mineral spiritual San which is the
Perpetual Motion of the wise, and that Saturnian Salt
which, develo})ed to intellect and made erect, subdues ,
all nature to his will. For it is the whole Demjjfgorgon, C .
now actually animated, which before w^as made visible
without its subject light ; but at length becoming
ignited, reflects from out the dark abyss of being, as
a luciferous wheel, with its radiant sections, all com-
LriutJiCLUT^S i)rehending in their Law, as the Oracle again-besponkc>
Fire, the derivation and dispenser of Fire,
Whose hair pointed is seen in his native Light :
Hence comes Saturn.
The Sun Assessor beholding the Pure Pole.
And this we take to be that midnight Sun of Apu-
Icius, the ignited Stone of Anaxagoras, (for which that
philosopher has suffered such abundant disrepute,
under error that his allusion was to the luminary of
this world). This is the triumphal Chariot of Anti-
mony, the Armed Magnet of Hclvetius turned swiftly
about the current axle of life, which is the Wheel of
Fire signalized in Ezekiel, seen by the Hebrew pro-
y phets, Moses, David, and Zachariah ; the Fiery
Puiy^m/^i^ Chariot of the Cabul, called IMercaba, in which all
things are transfigured ; and this is the Stone with
the new name written in the Revelation and that Salt
which the Saviour orders that we should have it in
ourselves ; and is the same with the Prester of Zoro-
aster which in the Chaldean sense means the Fire
Spirit of Life, and is that Identity in all which sus-
tains all by the efflux of His power — the supernatural
centre of every living thing, the infinitely powerful
and all-efficient making power.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
^ Anima Magia, p. 50 ; TabuLa Smaragdina Hermetis.
A^e
The Mysteries. 219
with God, and the Word was God. The same was in
the beginning with God. All things were made by
Him ; and without Him was not any thing made that
was made. In Him was Life ; and the Life was the
Light of men. And the Light shineth in Darkness and
the Darkness comprehended it not.^
And that Light shining in darkness, if men had ^
never known, how should they have asserted, -#r do <^
theologians invent such things in the present day ?
Neither did they formerly invent, but what they knew
and had seen declared. — To as many as received the
Spirit to them gave he power to become the sons of
God, which were born not of blood, nor of the will of
the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. — This
therefore is that Power which is hidden in man, the
true Light which lighteth every man that cometh into
the world, if haply one might feel after Him and find
Him. An enchanted treasury known only to the
w^isely simple who have subdued their will to the Law
of Wisdom, as Abraham did, as soon as he had gotten
the creature into his hands. ^
We omit many things here relating to the mystical
death and regeneration, which may be better under-
stood when we come to treat of the manifestation of
the Philosophic Subject ; adding merely at present, in
conclusion from our doctors, that the grand perfection
of their Art was to multiply the Prester and place him
in the most supreme Ether, which is that Augean
palace already prepared for him in the beginning ;
where, as in a suitable habitation, he abides shining, not
burning as below, or wrathful ; but vital, calm, trans-
muting, recreating, and no longer a Consuming Fire.
Intellige in scientia et sapias intelligentia :
experire in tllis, et investiga illa, et nota, et
cogita, et imaginare, et statue rem in integri-
TATE SUA ET FAC SEDERE CrEATOREM IN THRONO
SUO.^
1 St. John's Gospel, chap. i.
€A/ 2 Z^bii^ Jezirah, in fine.
^ Idem, Liber de Creatione, Authore Abraham, cap. i.
220 More Esoteric View
CHAPTER IV.
The Jlli/stcries concluded.
It behoves thee to hasten to the Light, and to the beams of the
Father from Avhence vras sent to thee a sonl clothed with much
mind. — Zoroastri Oracula, Anima, Corjms, Homo.
IT is known concerning Hercules, that he performed
his last labour in the Hesperidian region, and
Olympiodorus, in his Commentary on the Gorgias of
Plato, informs us what we are to understand by this.
It is necessary to know, says he, that islands stand out
of, as being higher than the sea ; a condition of be-
ing, therefore, which transcends this corporeal life and
generation is denominated the Islands of the Blessed ;
and these are the same with the Elysian Fields.
Hence Hercules is said to have accomplished his last
labour in the Hesperidian region ; signifying by this,
that having vanquished an obscure and terrestrial life,
he afterwards lived in open day.^ For he dragged up
Cerberus from hell, that is to say, he liberated the
whole individual entity through a threefold evolution
from the bond of its earthly geniture, and established
it finally in the most exalted life. And those golden
apples were a part also of the reward of his arcane and
telestic labours; which Theseus, before him, was un-
able to finish, being detained by his passions in the sea of
sense. So Proclus understands the allegory, where he
says that, being purified by sacred institutions and
enjoying undefiled fruits, Hercules at length obtained
an establishment among the gods.
Felix, qui potuit rerum cognoscere Causas,
Atque metus omnes et inexorabile Fatum
Subjecit Pedibus, strepitumque Acherontis avari !
Nature indeed, as a beneficent mother, offers the
1 See Taylor's notes to hid rausanias, vol. iii. p. 215, the extract.
The Mysteries. 221
rich treasury of life to all, and the universal Father,
it is said, keeps the gate of the fatal cavern open for
the convenience of mankind. The descent, therefore,
is allowed on all hands to be easy ; but the ascent
otherwise, the gate indeed being so narrow, close, and
difficult to discern, that there be few, and they im-
mortals only, that are able to pass through. The allu-
sion to these gates is frequent in antiquity, and that of
Homer in the thirteenth book of the Odyssey, describ-
ing the cave in Ithaca has been the subject of many
comments.
A lofty gate unfolds on either side,
That to the North is pervious to mankind.
The Sacred South t' immortals is consigned.
That the poet does not narrate these particulars
from historical information or misinformation either is
very evident. For neither if there had been any geo-
graphical ground for such a description, could he have
hoped to gain belief for the persistent allegory, thus
artificially opening up a path to gods and men in the
region of Ithaca. But the wise Porphyry, after com-
bating many erroneous opinions, explains that where-
as the northern gate pertains to souls descending into
the realms of generation, and the "ftortbe^n- to souls ■^i
ascending to divinity ; we ought to obsei-ve, on this
account, that Homer does not say indeed that this last
is a passage of the gods but of immortals : signifying
by this, souls wdiich are per se, that is to say, essen-
tially immortal.^ For nothing but the subtlety of an
immortal essence, and that by regeneration, can pass
into immortality. And here we may better conceive, per-
haps, the value of that Golden Branch, which, attracted
from the first to its native soil, indifferent to every
other lure, through death and darkness enters ; and
taking root at last, gathers strength to germinate and
blossom, as a radiant flower, overspreading and illu-
minating the surrounding wilderness of life. The
1 Porphyry on the Cave of the Nymphs, sub init.
222 More Esoteric View.
sudden transition from the horrid reahns of Tartarus,
forms an admirable contrast in that part of the iEneid
where the hero, having passed the Stygian border,
goes forth to meet his father in the Elysian Fields,
Devenere locos laetos, et amoena vireta
Fortunatorum nemorum, sedesque beatas.
Largior liic campos ^■Ether et Liiniine vestit
Purpureo: solemqiie suum, sua siclera norunt.'
This divine ethereal purpled verdure, this meadow
of Divine Ideas, or Fratum, as the Oracle denotes it,
, is a place well known to philosophers ; the Alchemists
CL4^J^ in general call it their garden, tet Flammel, in his
Summary, includes the Mountain of the Seven Metals,
saying, — the philosophers have indeed a garden where
the sun as well morning as evening remains with a
most sweet dew ; whose earth brings forth trees and
fruits which are transplanted thither, which also re-
ceive nourishment from the pleasant meadows. And
if thou wouldest come hither and find good, betake
thyself to the mountain of the Seven, where there is
no plain, and look down from the highest downward
to the Sixth, which you will see afar off; in the top-
most height, you will find a royal herb triumphing,
which some call mineral, some vegetable, some satur-
nine.^ For it is either and all, which Vaughan de-
scribes as the rendezvous of all spirits, where Ideas
as they descend from above, are conceived and incor-
porated. But it is a delicate and pleasant region, he
says, as it were in the suburbs of heaven. Those
seven mystic mountains, whereupon grow the roses
and lilies, are the outgoings of Paradise mention-
ed in Esdras, and the Planetary Sphere of Sendivogius,
and that most flimous tincture of the Sapphiric Mine:
which is in truth the cleansed Augean, the already
prepared medial receptacle of the new-born light ; and
no sooner does this arise than all the vegetable colours,
before obliterated in darkness, return to neutralize
1 G38.
- Flammolli Suinimila, in fine, and INTaria Practica.
The Mysteries. 223
their poison and restore the suspended circulation to a
conscious equiUbriate accord. This is Elysium, the
enclosed garden of Solomon, where God condescends
to walk and drink of the sealed fountain ; the true
Terrestrial Paradise, which some have called nox cor-
poris, the night of body or corporeal sleep, a term
made more intelligible by the apposite saying of
Heraclitus, concerning souls in that condition, that wc
live their death ami die their life. In these meadows
therefore the souls of the dead are said to inhabit,
souls dead indeed to this life, yet more alive in that.
For converted to externals, we desert our best life un-
consciously as Empedocles says,
Heaven's exiles straying from the orb of light.
But philosophers are said continually to have visited
this place, as we read for instance concerning the ha- /
bitation of R. C, Vidi aliquando Olympic^is domos, /o^
non procul a Fluviolo et civitate nota quas Sanctus ^
Spiritus vocari imaginamur. Helicon est de quo lo-
quar, aut biceps Parnassus, in quo Equus Pegasus
fontem aperuit perennis aquae adhuc stillantem, in
quo Diana se lavat, cui Venus ut Pedissequa et Sa-
turnus ut anteambulo, conjunguntur. Intelligenti
nimium inexperto minimum hoc erit dictum. To
clear the prospect a little, therefore, Vaughan adds this
description of the Indian Brachman's abode. I have
seen, says Apollonius, the Brachmans of India dwell-
ing on the earth and not on the earth ; they were
guarded without walls invisibly, and possessing no-
thing, they enjoyed all things.^ In such a place the
Oracle told AmeUus the soul of Great Plotinus was,
Ubi Amicitia est, ubi ciipido visu mollis,
Pnrae plenus laetitise, et sempiternis rivis
Ambrosiis irrigatus a Deo ; nnde sunt amorum
Eetinacula, dulcis spii-itus et tranquilliis ^ther
Aurei generis magni Jovis.
By such clear and rapid rivers of supernal light the
• Fama et Confessio, E. C. Preface by Yaughan.
224 More Esoteric View.
adoring Sybil drew her inspiration, and by sucli, ac-
cording to the Orphic poet, the god Apollo even loved
to contemplate.
Omnia quae Phoebo quondam meditante beatus
Audiit Eurotas, &c.
There are three modes of human vision recorded by
St. Augustin ; the first external, and belongs to the
outward eye; the second that of imagination, by which
representations are visible to the internal sense ; the
third is anagogic,and an intellectual sight, drawn above,
by which intelligible species are beheld, as a pure
infusion of hght to the understanding. The first
mode is familiar, the second has been already discussed ;
but this third vision of the light is in Elysium : wdiere
the eye of mind, no longer as heretofore looking from
without inwardly, beholds its object through the at-
mosphere of the natural life ; but contrariwise, having
passed through this, purifying to the centre, is con-
verted and raised; and, as a Unit, now regards the
circumference transitively, including it as an under-
standing or reflector, as it were, to the focus of her
light. Porphyry beautifully resembles this mode of
being to a fountain, not fiow^ing outwardly, but cir-
cularly scattering its streams into itself. And thus
there is an assimilation established, as near as may be
in consciousness , of the self knowing and the self
known ; yet with this motion of the soul, time is con-
subsistent, as changing her conceptions, she passes
from one to another according to the self motion of
her essence, and through her eye being directed to the
survey of the different forms which she contains, and
which have the relation of parts to her whole essence ;
but eternity is consubsistent only with the permanence
of intellect in itself.^ And thus, though there is a
grade above ; yet this is the Intellection in Elysium
where the exemplary Image of the Universal Nature
also is revealed as in that Athanor of Hermes before
' Sec Porphyry's Aid to Inte]lip;il>les. Taylor, p. 237.
The Mysteries. 225
mentioned, or furnace having a glass to it, that sin-
gular fundamental of his small new world.
And the life in the intelligible world consists thence-
forth in intellectually energizing, and this energy, dis-
tinguishing, desiring, understanding within itself simul-
taneously, generates Light through a perpetual tranquil
and quiet contact with the Principle of things. And
the calm delight of Being there in universal harmony,
the truthful visions, scenery, occupations and integral
intelligence are pictured with all the vivid colouring of
that experienced poet's soul ; and will be rightly under-
stood as an unfolding of the embryo life, the nourish-
ment and education of the understanding vehicle now
standing in open presence before its Archetypal Light ;
according to which also it perfects all the new-born at-
tributes, as of justice, beauty, charity, hope, every fa-
culty, sentiment and desire in orderly relation under the
dominion of reason ; and evolves the total harmony of
nature, and all specific variety in her originating source.
— The sun shines but for us, exclaims the chorus of the
Initiated in Aristophanes ; we alone receive the glory
of his beams ; for us alone the meadows are enameled
with flowers ; even for us, who are initiated and who
have learned to perform all acts of piety and justice.'
Nor is it without reason that the river Eridanus is said
by Virgil to pass through those celestial abodes ; for
this indicates the prolific flow of spirit which accedes
spontaneously from the occult energy of such a life.
Taylor has admirably set forth these particulars of the
poet in his Dissertation ; and that the most abundant
spectacles and powers are belonging to those Elysian
fountains is shown by Proclus, in his fourth book On
the Theology, in which also he relates that Theurgists
placed their chief hopes of salvation : for the plain of
Truth, he says, is intellectually expanded to intelligible
Light and is splendid with the illuminations which pro-
ceed from thence ; and as the one (subjective identity)
emits by illumination intelligible light so the intelligible
(objective entity) imparts to secondary natures a parti-
1 In Eamis, act i.
Q
226 More Esoteric View.
cipation productive of essence. But the Meadow is
the proUfic power of hfe, accordmg to Plato, and of
all various reasons, and is the comprehension of the
First Efficient causes of life and the generation of
Forms : for the meadows also which are here, con-
tinues the gi'eat exponent, are productive of all va-
rious forms and reasons and bear water which is the
symbol of vivitication.^ And here the metaphysician
accords with the ancient physiologists and alchemists,
who, experimentally searching, were said to prove the
Universal Identity of Nature on the ontological
ground ; reproducing the whole material principle to
sense and visibility fi'om the dissolution of the spirit in
its proper kind without alloy. But intending to speak
of these material rewards of initiation hereafter, and of
this Water especially, we pass onward for the present
to introduce the self-conspicuous and prolific goddess
herself, according to Apuleius' most eloquent an-
nouncement, appearing in the Eleusinian Fane.
Moved by thy prayers, O Lucius ! behold, I am
come ! I, who am Nature, the parent of all things,
the Queen of all the elements, the primordial pro-
geny of ages, the supreme of divinities, the sovereign
of the spirits of the dead, the first of coelestials, and
the uniform resemblance of gods and goddesses ; I,
who rule by my nod the luminous summit of the
heavens, the salubrious breezes of the sea, and the
deplorable silences of the realms beneath ; and whose
one divinity the whole orb of the earth venerates un-
der a manifold form, by different rites and a variety of
appellations. Hence the primordial Phrygians call
me Pessinuntica ; the Attic Aborigines, Cecropian
Minerva; the floating Cyprians, Paphian Venus ; the
arrow -bearing Cretans, Diana Dyctynna ; the three-
tongued Sicilians, Stygian Proserpine ; and the Eleu-
sinians, the ancient Goddess Ceres. Some also call me
Juno ; others, Bellona ; others, Hecate ; and others,
Rhamnusia. And those who are illuminated by the
1 Proclus, on the Theology of Plato, book iv. cap. \ ii. Tractatus
Aureus, cap. iii.
The Mysteries. 227
incipient rays of that divinity, the Sun, when he
rises, viz., the Ethiopians and the Arii, and the Egyp-
tians skilled in ancient learning, worshipping me by
ceremonies perfectly appropriate, call me by my true
name, Queen Isis. Behold then, I, commiserating
thy calamities, am present, favouring and propitious ;
dismiss now tears and lamentations, and expel sor-
row ; for now the salutary day will shine upon thee.
Listen therefore attentively to these my mxandates.
The religion which is eternal has consecrated to me
the day which will be born of this night; on which
day my priests offer to me the jirst fruits of ??aviga-
tion, dedicating to me a ?/etv ship, when now the ivi?i-
ter tempests are mitigated and the stormy ivaves of the
deep are appeased, and the sea itself has now become
navigable. That sacred ceremony you ought to ex-
pect with a mind neither solicitous nor profane. For
the priest, being admonished by me, shall bear a rosy
crown in his right hand adhering to the rattle, in the
precinct of the pomp. Without delay therefore cheer-
fully follow, confiding in my benevolence. When you
approach the priest, gently pluck the roses as if you
intended to kiss his hand, and immediately divest
yourself of the hide of that worst of beasts, and which
for some time since has been to me detestable.^ Nor
should you fear anything pertaining to my concerns as
difficult — only remember and always retain it de-
posited in the penetralia of your mind, that the re-
maining course of your life must be dedicated to me,
even to the boundary of your latest breath. Nor is it
unjust that you should owe your whole life to that
goddess by whose assistance you will return to the Hu-
man Form. But you will live happy, and you will
live glorious under my protection : and when, having
passed through the allotted space of your life, you de-
scend (once more) to the realms beneath, there also in
1 It will be remembered that Lucius entered upon this initia-
tion under the guise of an ass, into which he had been previously
transformed, which guise the oracle also had announced shovild
not depart from him until he had eaten of some flowering roses.
Q 2
228 More Esoteric View.
the subterranean hemisphere, you dwelling in the
Elysian Fields, shall frequently adore me whom you
now see, and shall there behold me shining amidst the
darkness of Acheron, reigning in the Stygian Pene-
traha, and being propitious to you. Moreover, if you
shall be found to deserve the protection of my divinity,
by sedulous obedience, religious services, and inviola-
ble chastity, you shall know^ that it is possible for me
to extend your life beyond the limits appointed to it by
fate.
The venerable Oracle being thus finished, adds the
philosopher, the invincible goddess receded into herself;
and without delay, I, being liberated from sleep, im-
mediately arose, seized with fear and joy, and in an
excessive perspiration, and in the highest degree ad-
miring so manifest a presence of the powerful goddess ;
having sprinkled myself with marine dew, and intent
upon her great commands, I revolved in my mind the
order of her mandates ; shortly after too the sun
arose, and put to flight the darkness of black niglit.^
The dragon shuns the sun's beams which look through
the crevices, and the dead son lives — and the now
vessel, purified and holy, is brought into the Eleu-
sinian temple, to be consecrated. in Light. Not, as
some have imagined, a crystal night-lamp or magic-
lanthorn, cleansed for the consumption of the best
olive oil, to dazzle the ignorant or instruct beholders
with artificial emblems of natural science ; but a far
more pelhicid gas-lamp, an infallible gasometer, able to
hold and sustain and measure simultaneously, even
within itself to kindle a perpetual flame, shining in
equilibriate constancy about the sufiicient fuel of all
life. As Apuleius further apostrophizing the same
divinity, continues — Thou rollest the heavens round
the steady poles, dost illuminate the sun, govern the
world, and tread on the dark realms of Tartarus.
The stars move responsive to thy command, the gods
rejoice in thy divinity, the hours and seasons return
Apiilphis. Metam. bonk x"!. Taylor, p. 263, Szc.
t
The Mysteries. 229
by thy appointment, and the elements reverence thy
decree.^
All which is readily admissible of the Universal Na-
ture ; and, if we may believe the experienced, we are not
cut off from this fountain, but attracted out from it ;
which supplies all things with life perpetually, so that
we are what we are by its influence ; but in turn re-
ceiving the impressure of foreign forms, passions,
accidents, and evil generations, the passive purity is
defiled and obscured, and unconscious of that inner
light which lives in reality; of which the present life is
a mere vestige and a comparative diminution of exist-
ence, an imitation, as it were, of that which is absolute
and real ; whose spontaneous revelation in a purifled
soul imparts virtue with understanding, and universal
knowledge, health of body, and long length of days ;
riches as from the Causal fountain of all things, and
felicity in communion with all. It also emits light
accompanied with harmony of intellection, and finally
exhibits a form of such rarified effulgence that the eye /;
of mind, all the while^ regarding, is drawn to contactj^ °>^^7^
suddenly, unable longer to sustain itself alone. This
is the method and arcane principle of Self- Knowledge,
and the narrow way of regeneration into life ; and so
great is the tenuity and attractive subtilty of the Di-
vine Nature, says yfamblicus, that the initiated, when _/^
surveying it, are affected in the same manner as fishes,
when they are drawn upwards from the dark and /
turbid waters into the diaphanous clear air ; becoming /^
languid as soon as they perceive it, and deprived of the
use of their connascent spirit.^ For to this spirit the
vision in Hades is allied which is borne through with-
out much disturbance of the common life ; but, when
the central magnet moves to the ascent, this expi-
ration is described as taking place ; a liberation is
effected through agony, as it were of death, the cir-
culation oscillates, and the soul, coalescing with its ve-
i
1
Apuleius, Metam. book xi.
/amblicus on the Mysteries, Taylor, p. 100.
230 More Esoteric View.
hide, transcends free from corporeal hinderance into the
Elysian hght. That was the rosy crown of which the
Hierophant was to assist Apuleius' Lucius to partake,
when he was enabled to put off the hide of that worst of
beasts, and re-enter into the Divine Form of humanity.
Wherefore, O ye asses ! cries Agrippa, in condemnation,
which are now^ with your children under the command-
ment of Christ by his Apostles, the messengers and
readers of true Wisdom in his Gospel, be you loosed
from the darkness of the flesh and blood, ye that de-
sire to attain to true Wisdom ; not of the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil, but of the tree of life :
setting apart all traditions of men and discourse of the
flesh and blood whatsoever it be ; entering not either
into the schools of other philosophers, but into your-
selves, ye shall know" all things, for the knowledge of
all things is compact in you : even as God hath cre-
ated trees full of fruits, so hath he created the soul as
a reasonable tree full of forms and knowledges : but
through the sin of the first parent all things were
opened ; and oblivion, the mother of ignorance, step-
ped in. Set you then now aside who may, con-
tinues the magician, the veil of your understanding,
wiio are wrapped in the darkness of ignorance : Cast
o out the drink of Lethe, you which have made your-
selves drunken with forgetfulness, and wait for the
True Light, you wfeich have suffered yourselves to be
overtaken with unreasonable sleep ; and forthwith,
when your face is discovered, ye shall pass from the
light to light, ^ and from glory to glory, as the Apostle
says — from the light of the senses to the illumination
of reason, and from reason through its topmost faith
into the substantive glorification of all.
'Twas in a golden cup
That Helius passed,
Helius, Hyperion's son.
O'er floods and oceans wafted far away.
To Erebus he went, and tlie sad realms of night
His aged parent there he found,
^ Vanity of the Sciences, in conclusion.
The Mysteries. 231
And the kind consort fQ his better days, <^-
And all his blooming offspring. ^
Then to the sacred grove he sped,
The sacred grove of laurel.
And this strain brings us to the final purpose of
iEneas who, going forth to meet his father^ in the
Elysian fields, has the whole Epopteia opened to him
— the Pantheistic revealment of the Universal Nature,
her secret foundation, the soul's essence, origin, hin-
derances, and proper end.
Principio coelum, ac terras, camposque liquentes
Lucentemque globum Lunse, Titaniaque astra
Spiritus intus alit, totamque iufusa per artus
Mens agitat molem et magno se corpore miscet.
Inde homimmi pecudumque genus vitfeque volantum,
Et quae marmoreo fert monstra sub jequore pontus.
Igneus est ollis vigor, et coelestis origo
Seminibus : quantum non noxia corpora tardant,
Terrenique hebetant artus, moribundaque membra.
Hinc metuuut cupiuntque dolent gaudentque neque auras
Eespiciunt, claus* tenebris et carcere caeco.
Quin et supremo cum lumine vita reliquit :
Non tamen omne malum miseris, nee funditus omnes
Corpoi'eae excedunt pestes ; penitusque necesse est
Multa diu concreta modis inolescere miris.
Ergo exercentur poenis, veterumque malorum
Supplicia expendunt. Aliie panduntur iuanes
Suspensa; ad ventos : aliis sub gurgite vasto
Infectum eluitur scelus, aut exuritur igni.
Quisque suos patimur maues. Exinde per amplum
Mittimur Elysium, et pauci laeta arva tenemus :
Donee longa dies perfecto temporis orbe
Concretam exemit labem, pur^imque reliquit
jEthereum sensum, atque aurai simplicis ignem.'
This initiation to the Paternal abode which, accord-
ing to the Alexandrian Platonists, opens the whole of
the divine paths and media by which the soul becomes
finally fitted for establishment under the coelestial cir-
culation of her Law, exhibits in progress likewise the
self-splendid appearances of the true gods, which are
both entire and firm, and expand to the mystic inspec-
tion of all intelligibles ; as Socrates explains in Phse-
drus : For telete precedes muesis, and muesis, epopteia.
1 ^neid, lib. vi. 724.
232 More Esoteric View.
Hence, says he, we are initiated {tckioametha) in
ascending by the perfective gods. But we view with
closed eyes, i. e. with the pure soul itself {muoumetlia)
entire and stable appearances, through the connective
gods, with whom there is the intellectual wholeness
^ and the firm establishment of souls. And we become
Ca^/ fixed in, and spectators of {cp^ptclfomcn) the intel-
/ ligible watch-tower, through the gods who are col-
lectors of wholes ; we speak, indeed, of all these things
as with reference to the intelligible, but we obtain a
different thing according to a diflPerent order. For the
perfective gods initiate us in the intelligible through
themselves ; as the collective monads are through
themselves the leaders of intelligibles. And there are
indeed many steps of ascent, but all of them extend
to the Paternal port and the Paternal initiation.^
To find the Hero, for whose only sake
We sought the dark abodes and crossed the bitter lake.
For the Paternal is the first source of life, and the
last into wdiich the conscience is initiated ; and the
re-birth and re-creation of this principle in the Free
Ether, prepared for it, is the end and plenitude of ini-
tiatory rites.
In Taylor's notes to his Pausanias we find an extract
from an ancient writer, Asclepius Trallianus, wherein
the etymon of ao(^ia, Wisdom, is derived from roa^e^;,
the conspicuous and the clear. Thus — what is Wisdom?
We reply, that it is a certain clearness, as being that
which renders all things conspicuous. From w^ience
was this word clearness denominated ? We reply, from
light. Since, therefore, the clear is accustomed to lead
into light and knowledge things concealed in the
darkness of ignorance ; on this account, concludes the
writer, it is thus denominated. Thus, also, Minerva
is sometimes called Phosphor, as being the bearer and
measure of the Demiurgic Fire. And what arc all the
gods but manifestations of this same Fire germinating
through the projecting energy of Intellect distinct in
1 Proclus on the Theology of Plato, book iv. chap. xxvi.
The Mysteries. 233
Light ? In its lucid understanding, stable expanse, Mi-
nerva ; in its golden radiance and ideality, Apollo ;
shining forth in beauty, warmth, and infinite attrac-
tion, Venus ; in its concentrated flashing force, Mars ;
in compact impenetrable purity, the chaste Diana ;
penetrating in all the variety of perspicuous thought
and imagination, the winged Mercury ; in its universal
fabricative virtue and beneficence, the Demiurgic Ju-
piter ; and thenceforth downward and upward from
the last to the first ineffable Phanes, before Saturn, or
that ancient Cybele, proceeded to manifestation by will
in time.
Then nor the sun's swift members splendid shone
But in dense harmony established lay
Concealed ; eternity's revolving sphere
Eejoicing round its centre firm to roll.
Until, as the poet goes on to explicate, by the fan-
ning of the celestial ether set in motion,
Then all the members of the god appeared.^
And the nourishing cause of these gods is said to
be a certain intelligible union, comprehending in itself
the whole intellectual progression, and filling the Ethe-
real Hypostasis with acme and power. All the gods,
says Plotinus, are beautiful, and their splendour is in-
tense. What else, however, is it but Intellect through
which they are such ? and because Intellect energizes in
them in so great a degree, as to render them visible by
its Light. For they are not at one time wise, and at
another destitute of wisdom, but they are always wise,
in an impassive, stable, and pure Intellect ; seeing
such things as Intellect itself sees, they occupy and
pervade without ceasing the whole of that blissful re-
gion. For the life there is unattended with labour,
and Truth is their generator and nutriment, their es-
sence and their nurse. '^ Plato also by Socrates nar-
rating the mode of ascent to the InteUigible Beauty,
' Empedocles, Physics.
- Plotinus on the Beautiful and the Three Hypostases.
234 More Esoteric View.
and how, following the divine leaders they became
partakers of the same, concludes — It was then lawful
to survey splendid Beauty, where we obtained together
with that happy choir, this blessed vision and contem-
plation ; and we indeed enjoyed this fehcity, following
the choir together with Jupiter, but others in conjunc-
tion with some other god ; at the same time beholding
and being initiated in those mysteries which it is law-
ful to call the most blessed of all mysteries. And
these divine orgies were celebrated by us while we
were perfect and free from those evils which awaited
us in a succeeding period of time ; ice liktivise ivere
initiated in and became spectators of entire, simple,
quietly stable, and blessed visions, resident in a Pure
Light ; being ourselves pure and liberated from this sur-
roundi)ig vestment, which ice denominate body, and to
which we are bound like an oyster to its shell. And
Beauty, continues the divine narrator, shone upon us
during our progressions with the gods : but on our ar-
rival hither, we possessed the power of perceiving it,
through the clearest of our senses.^ Not, let us be-
lieve with Dr. Warburton, " a mere illuminated image,
which the priest had purified," for indeed his whole
account of the institution is absurd ; but when we con-
sider to what Plato really alludes, by those simple and
blessed visions resident in a pure light, we can no
longer wonder why the initiated were called happy and
reported to have been blessed ; ^ since through initi-
ation, they were conjoined with the total deity and
intellectual perfection of their leaders, and were re-
plenished with the divine essentiality. And the being
entire is derived to souls from equilibriate circulation
in their Ether ; which contains, and is connective of all
the Divine genera. Everything, however, which in the
whole contains parts, comprehends also that which is
divided, and collects that which is various into union
and simplicity. But the quiet, stable, and simple
visions, are unfolded to souls supernally, as Proclus
1 Phfedrus, Taylor, vol. iii. p. 327 and following.
^ See Taylor's observations in the note on this passage, p. 327.
The Mysteries. 235
explains from the supercelestial place. And so those
gods and those powers that follow the gods reveal
themselves each in his particular form or essence of
light, but by no means extend themselves as figured
phantasms, such as the mind before beheld in Hades
from its own self-shadowing creative fancy. For
wherefore should they be supposed to exhibit these ?
Is it not evident that their characteristic would be far
better expressed by their simple idea living in the un-
derstanding, than by any other figured light or repre-
sentation? By no means, therefore, says Jamblicus,
does Divinity either transform himself into phantasms
nor extend these from himself to other things, but
emits illuminations, true representations of himself in
the true manner of souls. And truth, he adds, is co-
existent with the gods, in the same manner as light
with the sun. For as all other things, such as are
principal, primarily begin from themselves, and impart
to themselves that which they give to others ; as for
instance, in essence, in life, and in motion ; thus also
the natures which supply all beings with truth pri-
marily proclaim the truth themselves, and precedane-
ously unfold the essence of themselves to the specta-
tors. Hence likewise they exhibit to Theurgists a Fire
which is itself, to itself, visible.^ Let no one there-
fore wonder, says Proclus, the gods being essentially
in one simplicity according to transparency, if various
phantasms are hurled forth before the presence of
them ; nor if they, being uniform, should in their ap-
pearance be multiform, as we have learned in the most
perfect Mysteries. For nature and the demiurgic in-
tellect extend corporeal formed images of things cor-
poreal, sensible images of things intelligible, and those
without interval, since all things are an emanation from
these. ^ And thus the soul, when looking at things
posterior to herself, beholds the shadows only and
images of true being ; but, wdien she converts herself to
herself, she evolves her own Essence, and the vivific
1 /amblicus ou the Mysteries, cliap. x. Taylor, p. 106.
2 On the Theology, book i. chap xx.
7
•236 More Esoteric View.
reasons which she contains. And at first, indeed,
she only as it were percei ves. herself ; but, when she
penetrates more profoundly for the examination of
herself, she finds in herself both understanding and
the Reason of created beings. When however she pro-
ceeds into her interior recesses and into the Adytum of
Life, as the great theologist declares, she perceives, with
the eye closed as it were, the genus of the gods, which
are the Unities of all being : for all things are in us
psychically, that is to say, in the efficient Reason of
our life, and through this, when it is developed, we are
capable of knowing all things, by exciting the images
and powers of the Whole which we contain. And
this has been said to be the best employment of our
energy, to be extended to a Divine nature, and having
our individual powers at rest, to revolve harmoniously
round it, to excite all the multitude of the soul to this
union ; and laying aside all such things as are pos-
terior to the One, to become seated and conjoined to
that which is ineffable and beyond all things.^
It is satisfactory to observ^e how these ancients, w^ith
one accord, dismiss all visions which take place dur-
ing the imperfect self-activity of the human mind as
ai'bitrary and untrustworthy ; how well they had
learned to discriminate, and how very absolute and
clear a line they draw between enthusiasm and fanati-
cism, between the shadowy world of imaginative vi-
sion and the light of the true gods : nor will any one,
profoundly considering their assertions, doubt about
the origin or respect due to these divinities, which,
as an emanative splendour from the Causal Fountain,
make manifest in energy its intellectual Law.
"What though in solemn silence all
Move round this dark terrestrial ball
In Reason's ear they all rejoice,
And utter still their glorious voice.
For ever singing as they shine,
" The Hand that moves ns is divine.''^
' Idem, chap. iii.
■^ Blackwell's Mythology, lett. 8.
The Mysteries. 237
Or, as the Mathematician paints it,
En tibi Norma Poli — ! en divse Libramina Molis !
Computus en Jovis ! et quas dum primordia rerum
Couderet, omnipotens sibi leges ipse Creator
Dixerit, et Operis qufe Fundamenta locarit.
And here again we take occasion to observe that it
is indeed by divine Media, and not a mere conception
of the mind or metaphysical abstraction, either that
Theurgists are conjoined to the Divine nature ; since,
if this were the case, what would hinder those who
philosophize theoretically from participating of this ^
union ? which they do not ; hs^ the perfect efficacy of ^
ineffable works, says ^amblicus, which are divinely 7~^
performed, in a way surpassing all ordinary intelli- '
gence and the power of inexplicable symbols which
are known only to the gods themselves, impart The-
urgic union. Hence we do not perform these things
through intellectual perception ; since, if this were the
case, the intellectual energy of them would be im-
parted by us, neither of which is true : for when we
do not energize intellectually (all preparative conditions
having been fulfilled,) the Synthemata, i. e. the Theur-
gic aids and media themselves, perform by themselves
their proper work ; and the ineffable power of the gods
itself, knows by itself its own images. It does not
however know them, as if excited by our intelhgence;
for neither is it natural that things which comprehend
should be excited by those that are comprehended,
nor perfect by imperfect natures, nor wholes by parts;
hence neither are divine causes prooodancously called pAe^jx^u-u^i
into energy by our intellections ; but it is requisite to 6
consider these and all the best dispositions of the soul,
and also the purity pertaining, as certain concauses ;
the things which properly excite the Divine will being
the Divine Synthemata themselves : and thus things
pertaining to the gods are moved by themselves, and
do not receive from an inferior nature {i.e. to say,
from the regardant subject) the principle of their
238 More Esoteric View.
energy.' As the Chaldaic Oracle likewise in its own
operative language declares :
And tliese things I revolve in the recluse temples of my mind :
Extending tlie like fire sparklingly into the spacious air,
To put into the mind the symbol of variety,
And not to walk dispersedly on the empyreal channels, but stiffly :
For the king did set before the world an intellectual incorrupti-
ble pattern.
This print through the world, he promoting, accordingly ap-
peared.
Beautified with all kinds of Ideas of which there is one Fountain.
Intellectual notions from the Paternal Fountain cropping the
Flower of Fire —
And to these Intellectual Presters of Intellectual Fire all tilings
are subservient by the persuasive will of the Fatlier.
Having put on the completely armed vigour of resounding Light,
with triple strength, fortifying the soul and the mind.
O how the world hath Intellectual guides inflexible ! ^
So did Theurgic rites, by the medium of the pas-
sive Ether, unfold the embryo vigour of her newly
conceived life ; awakening intellect into reminiscence
and filling it with the conscious reasons of things
manifest and occult ; and as it were by an obstetric
hand and action, bringing forth the total nature and
ornamenting it with Light. For Wisdom here enacts
the part of a discreet mother, who having educated
her son and furnished him with understanding, bids
him use it, exercising him in every virtue and theo-
retic discipline for the final conversion and accom-
plishment of his soul. And if the education has been
complete and the discipline perfect, says Porphyry,
the whole inferior powers will range in harmonious
concord about their proper rule, and will so venerate
this Reason, as to be indignant if they are at all self-
moved, in consequence of not being quiet when their
master is present; and will reprove themselves for
their imbecility, so that the motions themselves will
' ^amblicus on the Myst. chap. xi. Taylor, p. 109.
- Oracula Chaldaica.
The Mysteries. 239
be dissolved through their proximity to the reasoning
power. ^
But the government of the natural hfe is oHgar-
chical, ahnost an anarchy, where there is no perma-
nently accepted leader of the whole ; but each motive
rising, as it were, becomes an usurper of a vacant
throne ; and external institutions imaged from thence
accordingly are selfish, conflicting, and unhappy. Yet
observing how the faculties of the common mind rally
about the standard of each tyrant motive, as it ac-
cedes, and how the highest are thus often made to
subserve the low^est ends, how covetousness, ambition,
and envy, and pride will erect and manifest themselves
in the circumstances of individual and social life, and
stamp their character on nations, and obscure the
perception of every other good ; we may gather from
thence a passable though faint conception of the Al-
mighty Force that moves about the Rational Magnet,
and how the Presters of Intellectual Fire follow in ra-
diant order the W'ill of their First Cause. Under such
a monarch indeed, when once he is established, no dis-
sensions w^ould be likely to arise, but the inferior
powers will so venerate his leading motive that they
will move only according to his movement, pursuing
constantly in observant order his infallible rule.
Fire, says the adept philosopher, is the purest and
most worthy of all the elements and its substance is
the finest of all ; for this w as first of all elevated in
the creation with the throne of Divine Majesty. This
nature is of all the most quiet and like unto a chariot,
wdien it is drawai, it runs ; when it is not drawn, it
stands still. It is also in all things indiscernibly. In
it are the reasons of life and understanding, which
are distributed in the first infusion of man's life, and
these are called the rational soul, by which alone man
differs from other creatures and is like to God. This
soul w^as of that most pure fire, infused by God into
the vital spirit, by reason of wdiich man, after the
1 Aids to ] ntellig^ sect. 2.
240 More Esoteric View.
creation of all things, was created into a particular
world or microcosm. In this subject, God, the Crea-
tor of all things, put his seal and majesty, as m the
purest and quietest subject, wdiich is governed by
the will and infinite wisdom of God alone. Where-
fore God abhors all impurity ; nothing that is filthy
or compounded, or blemished may come near Him,
therefore, no mortal man can see God, or come to
Him naturally. For that Fire which is in the circum-
ference of the Divinity, in which is carried the seal
and majesty of the ]\Iost High, is so intense, that no
eye can penetrate it ; for Fire will not suffer anything
that is compounded to come near to it: but is the
death and separation of everything that is com-
pounded. We have said that it is the most quiet sub-
ject ; so it is, or else it w^ould follow that God could
not rest ; but it is of a most quiet silence in itself
more than any man's mind can imagine. Thou hast
an example of this in the flint, in which there is fire,
and yet is not perceived, neither doth appear until it is
stirred up by motion, and kindled in it that it may ap-
pear. So the Fire in wdiich is placed the sacred ma-
jesty of our Creator, is not moved unless it be stirred
up by the proper wall of the Most High, and so is
carried where His holy will is. There is made by the
W\\\ of the Supreme Maker of things a most vehe-
ment and terrible motion. Thou hast an example of
this, when any monarch of this world sits in state ;
what a quietness there is about him, what a silence,
and although some one of his court doth move, the
motion is only of some one or other particular man,
in an order which is not regarded. But when the
Lord himself moves, there is a universal stir and mo-
tion, then all that attend on him move with him.
What then, when that Supreme Monarch, the King of
kings, and Maker of all things (after whose example
the princes of this world are established) doth move
in his own majesty ? What a stir ! What a trem-
bling, when the whole guard of this heavenly army
move about him ! But some one may ask, how do we
The Mysteries. 241
know these things, since heavenly things are hid from
man's understanding? To whom we answer, that
the}'^ are manifest to philosophers into whom the in-
comprehensible Deity has inspired his own Wisdom.^
For the total Reason is in this life of ours hidden, as
the fire in fuel that is not kindled, or as gold in the
dark ore unseen — our Iron, our Red Earth, our Load-
stone, celeberrimus ille microcosmos et Adam, in which
we are all now as dead ; nor can be awakened to remi-
niscence without a resolution of the whole circulatory
confine, when it arises identically reverse, perfect, and
alone. This is the Sal Sapientum et Mercurius Phi- n
losophorum ; their Secretum Secretorum pt Pons A&U ^j
iiorum ) — Scire etiam tibi convenit, O bone rex, quod
hoc magisterium nihil aliud est, nisi arcanum et se-
cretum secretorum Dei altissimi et magni ; Ipse enim
hoc secretum prophetis commendavit : quorum scilicet
animas suo paradiso coUocavit.^
We learn, finally, that the souls of the Initiated,
being made perfect in every telestic accomplishment
and virtue, and having passed orderly through the
whole progression of Intelligible Causes, by the Greeks
called gods, were next promoted to a contemplation
of their Highest Unity. For having vanquished every
irrational and gravitating inclination, the soul, holding
the circle of reason complete, as it were, and para-
mount over all, and possessing all, except her own
identic essence, desires this now alone and above
every other good, her final Cause and consummation
in the Absolute so long deprived.
I will open a secret to the Initiated, but let the
dno)\'< he shut. And thou, O Musseus, ojfspjing of the
b?'ight Silene, attend carefully to my song ; for I
deliver the truth without disguise : suffer not there-
fore former prejudice to debar thee from that lumpy
life which this k?ioivIedge will procure unto thee. But
studiously contemplate the divine oracle, and perse-
1 Sendivogius, New Light of Alchemy, Element of Fii-e, p. 99,
2 Morieni de Ti'ans. ]\Iotal. Ars Aiirifera, vol. ii. p, 27.
R
242 More Esoteric View.
vere in purity of mind and heart. Go on in the right
way, and contemplate the sole Governor of the
World. He is One and of Himself alone, and to that
One all things owe their Being. He operates through
all, was never seen by mortal eyes, but does Himself
see every one.^
This contemplation, then, of the indwelling Unity
cX-iA-t^ was the final preparative to translation ; fe«t" it has
been supposed, from the concluding passage, that He
was never seen by moi^tal eyes, and others of like im-
port, that the Initiated, therefore, did not behold Him.
But it should be remembered, that the initiated were
nowhere considered as mortal men, in respect of their
souls, which were regenerate, and so fortified by assi-
milation and proximity, that, whether in union or
separation, their regard was not extraneous but hy-
postatical, as of like to like. No mortal can see God
or come to him naturally ; for if that light which is in
the circumference be so intense that nothing corporeal
can sustain it, and previous unions, which were but
partial and instantaneous, as it were, tried the ethereal
vehicle to its utmost susceptibility, how much less,
therefore, can the compound creature, approaching to
the Fiery Centre, live? Neither is it said to be
lawful for the pure to be touched by the impure, and
the uninitiated are for this reason totally debarred, as
it were, by a threefold barrier of sense, ignorance, and
disincHnation, from the discovery of truth. But neither
let it be imagined, do the Initiated self-actively com-
prehend the life of Deity ; for that would be indeed
an inversion and a submerging of the Creator in the
creature ; but Plato beautifully unfolds the passive
method of the Divine Intuition, and the three ele-
vating causes of love, hope, and faith, to those who
do not negligently read what he has written. For
what else than love conjoins the soul to beauty ? and
where else is truth to be hoped^asks the philosopher,
except in this place ? And what else than faith is the
cause of this ineffable niuesis? For iiuiesis, in short,
' See the Ori)hie Fragment in A\'arburton, vol. i.
The Mysteries. 243
is neither through intelligence nor judgment, but
through the unical silence imparted by faith, which
is then better than every gnostic energy (when it sur-
passes this), and which establishes both whole and
individual souls in the ineffable Unknown.^ But,
lest we prolong the transcendental theme ; that which
is most externally remarkable in the theurgic man-
dates for this translation is, that the whole body
should be buried, except the head ; sublimely signify-
ing that the total life, with exception of that which is
intellectual, should be buried in profound oblivion ;
alone elevating, in Platonic phrase, the head of the
charioteer to the place beyond the heaven, where he
is filled with the Demiurgic Wisdom and an empy-
real life.
And it is necessary, says Proclus, that the soul
thus becoming an Intellectual World, and being as
much as possible assimilated to the whole inteUigible
universe, should introduce herself to the Maker of the
Universe, and, from this introduction, should, in a
certain respect, become familiar with him, through a
certain intellectual energy. For uninterrupted energy
about anything calls forth and resuscitates our dor-
mant Ideas. But through this familiarity, becoming-
stationed at the door of the Father, it is necessary
that we should become united to Him. For discovery
is this, — to meet with Him, to be united to Him, and
to see Him Himself — the Alone with the Alone ; the
soul hastily withdrawing herself from every other
energy to Him ; for then, being present with her
father, she considers scientific discussions to be but
words, banquets together with Him on the Truth
of Real Being, and in pure splendour is purely
initiated in entire and stable vision. Such, therefore,
is the Discovery of the Father ; not that which is dox-
astic, or pertaining to opinion ; for that is dubious
and not very remote from the irrational life ; neither
is it scientific; for this is syllogistic and composite,
and does not come into contact with the intellectual
^ Proclus, on tlie Theology, book iv. chap. ix.
R 2*
244 More Esoteric View.
essence of the Intellectual Demiurgus. But it is that
which subsists according to Intellectual Vision Itself:
a contact with the Intelligible, and a union with the
Demiurgic Intellect. And this may properly be de-
nominated difficult, as Plato alludes, either as how to
obtain, presenting itself to souls, after every evolution
of life, or as to the true labour of souls. For after
wandering about generation, after the purification and
the light of science ; intellectual energy alone, by the
intellect that is in us, shines forth ; locating the soul
in the Father, as in a port, purely establishing her in
fabricative intellections, and conjoining Light with
Light. — Not such as was with science, or that vision
that was in Elysium, but more beautiful, more intel-
lectual, and partaking more of the nature of the One
than this. This, then, is the Paternal Port and the
discovery of the Father, according to Proclus, viz.,
an undefiled union with him.^
And with what magnificence of thought and diction
does the Platonic Successor recal the Initiated Reason
to the contemplation of . her end, as ablating every-
o/ru^ (IaMlaa^ thing else in gradual approach/ . jj? ailing together the
^ whole voluntary accord, he exhorts us now, if
ever, to remove from ourselves multiform knowledge,
exterminate all the variety of life, and in perfect quiet
approach near to the Cause of all. Let not only
Ci'^yid opinion and phantasy be at rest, »©¥- the passions
alone, which imi)ede our anagogic impulse to the
First, be at peace ; but let the air and the universe
be still (within us), and let all things extend in us
with a tranquil power, to commune with the In-
effable. Let us also, standing there, having tran-
scended the Intelligible, and with nearly closed eyes,
adoring, as it were, the rising sun(^ since it is not
lawful for any being whatever iiiteiitly to behold Him)
let us survey that Sun whence the hitelUgible gods
proceed, emerging, as the Poets say, fi'om the bosom
of the ocean ; and again from this divine tran-
quillity descending into Intellect, and from Intel-
^ On tliP Timajus of Plato, vol. i. Taylor, p. 254.
The Mysteries. 245
lect, employing the reasonings of the soul, let us
relate to ourselves what the natures are fi-oni which,
in this progression, we shall consider the First God
exempt. Let us, as it were, celebrate Him, not as
establishing the earth and heavens, nor giving sub-
sistence to souls and the generations of mortals ; for
these things He produces indeed, but amongst the last
of things. Prior, rather, let us celebrate Him as un-
folding in Light the whole Intelligible Universe and
intellectual genus of gods, together with all the super-
mundane and mundane divinities ; as the God of all
gods, the Unity of all unities, and beyond the First
Adyta ; as more ineffable than all silence, and more
Unknown than all recondite essence, as Holy amongst ./f
the holies, and concealed FHfHWgsl the Intelligible gods. UriZAAyr^
Such was the theology of the wise Ethnics, such
their piety, and with such an energetic expansion of
their whole unfettered will and understanding, did
they seek to prove Reality in the Great Unknown
— unknown, because concealed in this life — uncon-
scious, even whilst yet in Elysium, the soul looked
out through all her imaged light. But returning
from thence into herself with all her beams concen-
tered, addressing the Great Archetype, He becomes
known ; yet not as in the individuated consciousness,
things are said to be known apart ; nor as before,
either in separation of subject and object ; but abso-
lutely, in Identity ; as passing from herself the soul
no longer sees or distinguishes by intellection nor
imagines that there are two things, but, consubstan-
tial, becomes herself the ultimate object as she was cA
before the subject in simultaneous accord. And thus
the Divine Oracle ratifies the Platonic instruction
to inquire.
There is sometliing Intelligible which it behoves thee to under-
stand with the Flower of thy mind.
Tor if thou inclinest thy mind thou shalt understand this also,
Yet understanding, thou shalt not comprehend this wholly:
Tor it is a Power of circumlucid strength glittering with vehe-
mence of iutellection.
246 More Esoteric View.
But with the ample flame of tlie ample mind which measiu-eth all
thingB,
Except this Intelligible:
But it behoves tliee to understand this also ; not fixedly, but hav-
ing a pure tui'uiug eye,
Extend tlie empty mind of thy soul towards the Intelligible,
That thou mayest learn the Intelligible, for it exists beyond the
mind.
Such is the condition and metaphysical ahenation
which ancient experience subHinely proved, as passing
to deification ; which the natural reason echoes, but by
a necessity of faith only, since it cannot pass into the
superstantial proof. Theoretic contemplation, sen-
sible abstraction, continuity of active thought, all are
alike inadequate ; Without the Pontic Medium, with-
out Theurgic assistance we are unable to transcend the
consciousness of this life, and so are prevented from
carrying metaphysics or of proving existence on the
ontological ground. But this desiring faith of reason
by which she has persisted and still persists, occa-
sionally to inquire and infer, respecting causes which
are both beyond and behind her natural grasp, has, we
think, been aptly compared to the perception which
the eye has of light and colours ; for as sight, observing
believes, yet can affirm nothing absolutely about the
reason or essences of colours ; in like manner reason,
reflecting abstractedly, perceives a necessity of subsist-
ence within itself, yet, unable to know, can affirm
nothing with respect to it. For affirmation implies a
doubled testimony in subject and object, or as a
logician might say, affirmation arises out of that which
is composite from a subject and a predicate. If there-
fore Intellect should by any means be enabled to come
into visivc contact with its vision, as if begetting an
experience, it would then assert ; and the assertion, as
respects itself, would be true ; and the disbelief of
others who had not proved the same, would be to it
as if some one having slept away his life dreaming in
this world, should on awakening to outward sense,
persist in those dreams with which he had been so
long conversant, denying the reality of the api)caring
The Mysteries. 247
world ; and as his infatuation would be obvious, and
his denial disregarded by mankind, so is the blindness
of the sensible life described as obvious and lament-
able by those who have passed into a more profound
and convictive experience.
But not reason, nor enthusiasm, nor ardent desire,
nor an intellectual conception, nor abstraction, as we
are taught, conjoins theurgists with the One ; but
these are preparatory steps only to the self-oblivious
amplitude of conception which precedes Him moving
in the ultimate recessure of life.
He comes, says Plotinus, suddenly alone, bringing
with him his own empyreal universe and total deity,
in one. And all things in that ultimate circulation are
diaphanous, nothing dark or resisting, as of subject
and object remaining in the mind ; but everything is
apparent to every faculty intrinsically throughout. For
light everywhere meets light, as thought its under-
standing in the all, continental all, resident in each
particular, perfect with all ; and the splendor there is
infinite, for everything there is great, even that which
is small, for it has the great. The sun which is there
is all the stars, and again each star is the sun, and all
the stars, as ideas are in the mind everywhere, and the
same mind in all ; only in each a different quality is
dominant, yet all are comprehensible in each, and
transmutable one into another, as thoughts arise and
are displaced without disorder or opposive persistence.
Motion likewise there is jjerfectly harmonious, for the
motion is not confounded, as in the world it is, by a
mover different from itself ; but the seat of each thing
is that which the thing itself is, and concurs and proves
itself to be what it is by its own self-evidence, pro-
ceeding constantly towards that whence it originated.
Thus, that which thinks and understands, and the
thing understood are one, coeternal and coequal, and
their substance is intellect, and Intellect according to
these philosophers is the subsistence of all.
But in the sensible world the circulation of things is
altogether different ; for though this has been proved
also to be an outbirth from the same universal centre,
248 Moke Esoteuic View.
yet the c(iuilibriuoi of being is broken everywhere at
t he eircunifercnec for manifestation ; one thing does not
subsist by another, but each part or individual remains
alone in contrariety of conscience ; nor does the devious
wheel of life obey her axle any more, until returning
into it, she perceives her error and the transgression
that was made in self-will, for the sake of this expe-
rience, from the great Law of Light, from plenitude of
Power, from immortal Harmony, and that high Exem-
plar which is before all things, and the Final Cause of
all ; which seeing only is seen, and understanding is
understood by him, who having a sight like that of
Lynccus, penetrating all centres, discovers himself in
That finally wiiich is the source of all ; and passing
from himself to That, transcending, attains the end of
his progression.
Ille dei'im vitam accipiet, divisque videbit
Permixtos heroas, et ipse videbitur illis.
And this was the consummation of the Mysteries,
the ground of the Hernietic philosophy, prolific in
supernatural increase, transmutations and magical
effects. And thus it is said to be lawful for the Vital
Spirit to descend and ascend in successive circulations
until she terminates her flight in the Principle of things.
And this w^as the life of the gods and of divine happy
men, who rising in voluntary abnegation above the
evil and sensual habitude of this life and many suffer-
ings to which body is allied, obtained, together wdth a
liberation fi*om these, a foretaste simple, beatific, and
secure, of the life which is eternal ; when, by exciting
the divine virtue within, they became simultaneously
elevated, and proceeding through Intellect to Wisdom,
they arrived at the First Principle ; and again de-
scending thence, increasing in divine virtue by each
ascent, until the total life was irradiated from the
ample recess of light.
Tunc ire ad mundum archetypum S53epe atque redirc
y^jZ-y^vL^ry-^ Patreiiijp*ffaj»ii«ia spectare licebit —
Cujus tunc Co-operator effectus potest Omnia.
The Mysteries. 249
But there are many degrees of Divine illumination ;
nor were the rites of Eleusis found to be equally effi-
cacious for all ; since all souls are not of equal capacity
or bias towards intellectual education : but as philoso-
phers agree that preceding initiations are preparatory
to those in a subsequent order, so the possession of the
best habits of thought in this life, and natural incli-
nation, render the Spirit better adapted to sublime.
Plato, accordingly, cites the records of the Mysteries,
to witness that there are many more Thyrsus bearers
than Bacchic souls ; which is to say, that many had
the tire indeed, and were able even to perceive it, who
were without the power to discover and draw it forth to
manifestation. For, in the Thyrsus, Prometheus is fa-
bled to have concealed the fire he stole from heaven ;
but Bacchus, persisting through the whole course of
life allotted, returned, as the Orphic verse denotes
him, triumphant, and appearing in splendour to
mortals.
Bacclius, ipse totus igneus et fulgidus appareret, qui nudis oculis
tolerari non posset.
So Osiris appeared in shining garments, as Apollo,
all over radiant ; so Socrates^ his mighty genius once (^'^'^
freed, in ecstacy shone forth, as it is related, to the
beholders, more dazzling than the luciferous wheel of
the meridian sun, diffusing itself from the freed centre
outwardly until it moved the dark circumference of
sense itself.^
So great Alcides, mortal mould resigned.
His better part enlarged and all refined ;
August his visage shone ; Almighty Jove
In his swift car his honoured oflspring drove.
So Orpheus, and/^divine Achilles shone refulgent
in his armour ; and Jason, on his return from Colchis,
with the Golden Fleece.
1 Agrippa Occult Phil, book iii. where are given several notable
examples in this kind ; and Apuleius on the Demon of Socrates.
250 More Esoteric View.
But, say the expounders, all this splendid delirium
and transfiguration in the Mysteries was the effect of
narcotic liquors, which were administered to the Mystce
before the shows commenced, causing a confusion
of their intellects, and the strange and miraculous a])-
pearance of the objects exhibited to them. But this
is all a mistake ; arising naturally enough out of the
tendency of common sense, Procrustes like, to accom-
modate all things to the limitation of its own sphere,
which comprehends but a small part, however, of the
things which are. The light exhibited in the Eleusinian
mysteries, i. e., in the true initiations, as is plainly to
be gathered from the sense of the ancients, was the
Light of Life which these could kindle and fortify, and
the total drama was Di\dne. Let ignorance disbelieve,
and impiety reprobate, as long as they are able ; those
Theurgic associations were neither futile nor unholy ;
nor were the visions or gods attending on those
Mysteries dead images, nor mere symbols, nor impo-
tent, nor idle, nor invisible, though unseen. For are
we not taught by the highest philosophic authorities
to believe that by Theurgic rites, an ascent was made
through appropriate media and a gradual assimilation,
which without these could not be effected, to the
l\nowlc(lge of the First Cause ; and that not theoretic
only, but actual in co-efficiency of being and universal
intellection.
And here, if any agree with us, he will readily
appreciate that mandate of the Mysteries which
forbids that divine things should be divulged to the
uninitiated. For beyond the early danger to unpuri-
fied souls, there remains this objection, that such
things cannot be understood by the multitude, nor
rightly by any but by those only who were fortunately
enabled to perceive them. But it is not possible, fol-
lowing their descriptions, the sublimely articulate rela-
tions of the Greek and Alexandrian Platonists, or those
no less profound and earnest Mystics of the middle
ages, concerning the divine hypostasis and last con-
junction of the contemplative soul and its immortal
The Mysteries. 251
experience, to maintain an indifferent spirit, or with-
out being in a degree moved to a responsive sense of
their reaUty. And he who, being endowed with a
percipient mind and Hberal, will take pains to examine
those w^ritings, or even those of the reputed enemies
of their faith — the enlightened Fathers of the Christian
Church — may be persuaded by very much evidence, too
much to intrude in this place, that the Eleusinian
rites alluded to, and the objects attained, were of
a nature widely differing from those which have been
generally reported. And if, as must be indeed ad-
mitted, they became latterly disgraced in impure
hands, yet this ought not by any means to detract
from our esteem of the original institution, to which
those latter orgies were diametrically opposed. That
the Mysteries were instituted pure there is no doubt,
since it is universally allowed ; early Christians con-
curring with the wisest Ethnics in declaring that they
proposed the noblest ends, and by the worthiest means
attained them ; where not only every thing within was
conducted with decorum, but utmost care was taken
to secure the same for those passing without the Fane,
where misbehaviour, even of the eye, was accounted
criminal, and indiscretion was punished, and profana-
tion by death. That all was a mere machination and
priestly lure, or the visions of men of obscured intel-
lects, is an assumption arising out of the double igno-
rance of modern times ; all those immortal fables
and glowing descriptions of poets, philosophers, saints,
and historians belie the folly, and reflect it on those
who, from regarding the fluctuating objects of sense
only, with a trifling imagination, have obscured the
high reality and light of better days.
But it is then, as Epictetus says, that the idea
of the Mysteries becomes truly venerable, when,
believing the ancients, we begin to understand their
assertion, that all things therein were provided by
them for the improvement and perfection of human
life.
Thus far we have endeavoured to sketch through
252 More Esoteric View.
the order of the Mysteries to their consummation ;
for the sake of affording a gi-ound to the pursuit
of our inquiry, to indicate the connection of the Sa-
cred Art and Alchemy, and inasmuch as modern
revelation would permit, the nature of that Aii; and
proper Subject of this philosophy. In the progress
of this Vital Experiment, it may not be difficult to
imagine that powers would be disclosed and particular
secrets of nature in the substance of her Whole.
These intermediate fi'uits and fragments, having
been exhibited at intervals to the world, without a dis-
covery of their source, have given rise to much asto-
nishment and misapprehension, and those futile re-
searches of common chemistry after the elixir and gold.
Both of which are vital products, as we shall i)rocecd
to elucidate with the method and metaphysical origin
of the Philosopher's Stone.
PART III.
CONCERNING THE LAWS AND VITAL
CONDITIONS OF THE HERMETIC
EXPERIMENT.
255
CHAPTER I.
Of the Experimental Method and Fermentation of the
Philosophic Subject, according to the Paracelsian
Alchemists and sovie others.
Naturam in primis imitabere in arte magister.
Ilanc massam exterior taiitum calor excitat ignis ;
JEthereo interior seel perficit omnia fotu.
Tractatus Aureus — Scholium, cap. i.
IT is not less a tendency of the Greek philosophy
to substantialize life, than to free the conscious
being from corporeal dependency ; in considering mind
apart from its material organs, they by no means make
it appear therefore as an abstract conception, or in-
ferential only, as with modern metaphysics is the case;
but as an absolute substratal matter also of existence.
On just such a foundation do the Alchemists esta-
blish their Free Masonry ; claiming like extreme attri-
butes and miraculous origin for their first matter, as
do the Greeks, for that ethereal hypostasis we were
before discussing. A few also profess, with the same
admirable earnestness, to have observed in the experi-
mental development of their whole internal being, the /Ttomy
whole procedure of the occult nature into evidence,
with her universal efficient by the Light of Wisdom
thenceforth revealed.
In ignorance of the means by which such a spec-
tacle was obtained, they may continue unaccredited,
for their assertion is at variance with the judgment of
common sense, neither does it belong to the natural
order of mental experience ; nevertheless, since the
whole of the Hermetic philosophy, and every tradition
of occult science, depend immediately therefrom, for
our undertaking's sake, it will be requisite to consider
256 Laws and Conditions.
this, their Initial Principle, more particularly, and how
possibly it became known in its first arcane descent
and emanation.
We have already endeavom-ed to prepare a way
in part, showing the imperfection of the natural Spiiit
in this world, the occultation of its Light, and the
vital alteration that was deemed necessary and ope-
rated in the Mysteries upon those who were desirous
of wisdom and immortality in the awakening con-
science of a divine life within. Let us examine yet
further into the Method of this Vital Experiment, that,
before proceeding to unfold the Art in actual i)ractice,
we may understand the Principles ; and be enabled,
from out the many clouds of sophistry in which it is
enveloped, to distinguish that Light and virtue of true
Chemistry, by which the ancients were assisted : — that
deformed and limping CEdipus, for example ; so that
he was able to vanquish the Metaphysical Monster,
and enter in with her to the Temple of Truth.
And here, preliminarily, we may remark with how
much propriety the Egyptians placed the Sphinx in
the vestibule of Isis, who is the same with Minerva
and that Wisdom we are investigating ; for what the
natural intelligent Spirit is in man, that Ether is
in the universe ; and this intelligence, phantastic as it
is and drawn without, may be called the vestibule of
Reason, which is, as it were, the temple of that Intel-
lectual Illumination which proceeds, when the con-
ditions are duly offered, from the Divinity within. In
our vestibule, therefore, the Phantastic Spirit, which is
the natural vehicle of our hfe, is situated ; and in
a similar manner the commonly diffused Ether is as a
vestibule or vehicle in respect of the universal soul of
the world, which is occultly suspended in Nature, and
may be called her temple ; as an outward shadow,
guarding the Light within of both worlds, so is that
Ether then the Sphinx of the Universe.
And she is all things passively which the internal
light is impassively. By her animal form, combined
with the human face and summit, is indicated the two-
Experimental Method. 257
fold capability and diffusion of such a life ; for she is
the summit of the irrational mind relying on instinct,
and the basis whereon to build the rational and trans-
cend opinion in indivisible science. Her wings are
images of the elevating power which the imagination
possesses, by which likewise she is rendered capable
of divine assimilation and of returning within and
upward to a region of vivid intellection everywhere
resplendent with light.'
Such was the Door-keeper of the Egyptain Mys-
teries ; agreeably also do we find the art of Alchemy
directed upon the same enigmatical source.
A nature to search out which is invisible,
Material of our Maistry a substance insensible.
This Material, whilst yet immanifest, they worked,
and worked with by itself alone ; joining self to self, as
the advice runs — vita vitam concipit, natura naturam
vincit ac superat, patefacit, gignit et renovat ; item
natura natura leetatur et emendetur ;^ as men also
now prove, mesmerising one another, but without the
important knowledge how to alter and amend the Thing.
This Mesmerism, in respect of our Mystery then, may
be regarded as a first key which, opening into the ves-
tibule, affords a view within the sense's prison, but of
the labyrinth of life only. Facts vary at the circum-
ference, and appear often so contradictory that reason
is at a loss, even if otherwise admitted capable, for stable
materials whereon to base judgment ; and each suc-
ceeding theory yields to some unforeseen diversity of
the Spirit's manifestation. If the ancients had known
the inner life only as it is now known, if they had mis-
taken dreams for revelations, instinct for intellectual
vision, and insensibility for the highest good, and so
left Nature to dream on and take her rest without
exerting a thought to probe or prosper her ability,
1 See Taylor's Notes to his Pausanias ; an admirable extract from
Lasus Hermonseus concerning the Sphinx, vol. iii.
2 Arnold! Rosarium, Democritus et alii in Turba Philosophorum ;
De Lapidis Physici Condit. cap. iii.
S
258 Laws and Conditions.
then they would have been just such inconsiderable
heathens as the world has taken them for ; the Sphinx
had never owned her mastery or yielded to theirs her
w^ary wit ; then they would have been, as we, servants,
not masters ; plodding interpreters of effects, without
power or prescience. But it was all otherwise, as
will one day be perceived ; their philosophy as far
exceeded ours in substance and objective certainty, as
it does avowedly in scope, beauty and intellectual
promise.
It may be considered that the discovery of Vital
Magnetism is young, and has had no time to grow up
into a science ; that it is the business of a philosopher
to observe and gather facts from without patiently and
compare experiences ; and we do not object but admit
that it is a way ; but whether it is the best way, or
surest, to find the truth eventually we doubt : a long
way we all know it to be — laborious and not very
cheering, if we regard the point to which it has hither-
to attained in the most intelligent and experienced
hands. Or how should the)" attempt to theorise
about a revelation that is above their own ? as well
might we presume to estimate the worth of a treasure
that is unseen, as to judge of spiritual causes from re-
mote effects. Is not experience the basis of true
knowledge, and rational experiment the proper road to
attain it ? How then can we hope for an understand-
ing of spiritual causes without entering in upon the
proper ground of their experience ? Verily, says the
adept, as long as men continue to lick the shell after
their fashion, presuming to judge of hidden celestial
things which are shut up in the closet of the matter,
and all the while perusing the outside, they can do no
otherwise than they have done; they cannot know
things substantially, but only describe them by their
outward effects and motions, which are subject and ob-
vious to every common eye.*
But be the modern method of experimenting as it
^ Yaughan's Auima Magia Abscondita, p. 8.
Experimental Method. 259
may, right or wrong, according to opinion, the ancients
did not choose it ; but adopted a different one in their
philosophy ; which we, observing the imperfect fruits
of the inductive sciences generally, and that facts ac-
cumulated about them for ages, have failed in every in-
stance to yield the satisfaction which reason requires,
are more particularly desirous to examine at the pre-
sent time, if peradventure philosophy might hope
with advantage to return with her instruments to work
as formerly on the (I priori ground. It has lain a long
while uncultivated, and indigenous weeds and briers
have sprung up over, so that it is difficult, on first
view, to believe that it ever yielded foreign fruits ; but
patience, and the possibility granted, we will endea-
vour to clear a path, by the help of evidences that yet
remain, many and curious, about the riches of Wisdom
and those living waters that abound in Paradise,
compassing about too that land of Havilah where good
gold is ;^ the Tree of Life also, and Knowledge, and
other precious things wonderfully adumbrated about
the penetralia of True Being. — Surely there is a vein for
the silver, says Job, and a place for gold where they
Jine it. Iron is taken out of the earth, and brass is
molten out of the stone. As for the earth, out of it
Cometh bread : and ander it is turned up as it were
Jire. And the stones of it are the place of sapphires :
and it hath dust of gold. There is a path which no
fowl knoweth, and which the vulture's eye hath not
seen : the lions whelps have not trodden it, nor the
fierce lion passed by. He putteth forth his hand upon
the roek ; he overturneth the mountauis by the roots.
He cutteth out rivers among the rocks ; and his ei/e
seeth every precious thing. He bindeth the flood
from overflowing; and the thing that is hid bringeth
he forth to light. But where shall wisdom be found?
and where is the place of understanding? Man knoweth
not the price thereof; neither is it to be found in the
latul of the living. Whence then cometh Wisdom ? and
^ Genesis, chap. ii. ver. 10, and following.
s 2
260 Laws and Conditions.
where is the place of understanding ? Seeing it is hid
from the eyes of all living, and kept close from the
fowls of the air. God understandeth the way thereof.
For he looketh to the ends of earth, and seeth under
the whole heaven ; to make the weight for the winds ;
and he weigheth the waters by measure. When he
made a decree for the rain and a way for the light-
ning and thunder: then did he see it, and declare it;
he prepared it, and searched it out. And unto man he
said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is Wisdom ;
and to depart from evil is Understanding}
Let us, then, investigate a means for the discovery of
Wisdom, as the ancients declare to be right and pro-
fitable, and believe that he spoke well and summarily
who said, that " the first step in philosophy is to set
the mind a-going."'
As we are informed that the conduct of the Mys-
teries was uniform and entirely scientific ; so likewise
philosophers insist that, in the Hermetic art, theory
ought to precede practice ; and that, before the Spirit
can be expected to yield any rational or pure effects,
she must be made to conceive them : the right way and
object of investigation being well understood. — Dwell
not altogether in the practice, says the adept, for that
is not the way to improve it : be sure to add reason to
thy experience, and to employ thy mind as well as thy
hands. "^ So wrote Vaughan in 1 650 ; and, to the same
effect, artists of every age : and, in the sequel of this
inquiry, we may understand Why ; and why we have
no such miracles as those which are related of the
saints and apostles in former times who received the
gift of healing from their Lord. Is it not obvious to
common sense, that he that would heal others, or hope
to impart any superior efficacy, should first of all heal
or be healed himself? Take first the beam from out
thine own eye, and then thou mayest see clearly to
take out the moat that is in thy brother's eye : and
again, is it not written, — Physician heal thyself; Prepare
^ Job, cliap. xxviii.
' Yaughan's Luinon de Luiiiino, p. 18.
Experimental Method. 261
thy work without, and make it fit for thyself in the
field ; and afterwards build thy house. ^ If, then, w^e go
out at once to throw our common life to common
lives, w^hat wonder we have only common results ?
That much depends upon the quality of the life im-
parted, general observation teaches ; and with what
sure corresponding consequences the moral leaven is
attended may be understood, in a degree, by the
recipient in the mesmeric trance. But the spon-
taneous fermentation which the Vital Spirit undergoes,
and the change which is thereby effected in the Passive
Subject, is not taken advantage of in modern practice,
or pushed to the uttermost ; much less is understood,
that exact art of grafting and transplanting which
the ancients practised, and by means of which a
growth and sublimation of the Spirit was effected,
even to a third, fourth, and fifth degree of concen-
trated essentiality in as many representative vessels or
forms.
The true medicine, according to the Paracelsians, is
bound in man, shut up as it may be milk, within the
hard and solid nut : and as fire which lies hidden in
fuel, unless it be ignited, is good for nothing, so our
fire of life (called Antimony by adepts) can effect no-
thing comparatively excellent whilst it is immured.
When however, by a due purgation, the pure life is
separated, as metal from the dark and sordid ore, it
will flow forth, as is declared, " a pure panacea from
the god of Light ;"
AJVhose fragrant locks distil ambrosial dews,
Drop gladness down and blooming health diffuse ;
Where'er the genial planacea fall^, ""■ ^^-.^
Health crowns the state, and safe^y^uards'the walla.^
As all things are proved by fire, so also, are we told,
the trial of the knowledge of physic is to be made by
fire ; physic and pyrotechny, says Crollius, cannot be
separated ; for the natural inbred chemist teaches to
' Wisdom of Solomon, and in Proverbs, chap. xxiv.
2 Callimachus's Hymn to Apollo, by Dodd.
262 Laws and Conditions.
segregate every mystery into its own reservacle, and
to free the medicine from those scurvy envelopes
wherein naturally it is wrapped, by a due separation
from the impurities and filthy mixtures of superficial
external elements ; that the pure crystaUine matter
may be administered to our bodies ; and therefore a
physician should be born of the light of grace and
spirit of the invisible divinity.' Wherewith a man
no longer asks, What is it? How can this be? or,
Whence come such salutary effects ? For it feels itself
move in conscious virtue from its own source, being
allied, as an efflux of that living light which can move
mountains to its faith.
To find this Light, and to free it from captivity, was
the practice of physicians in the middle periods, for
curing bodily ills, and administering to the defects
of age. But the Theurgic Art professed a power of pu-
rifying and informing the Mind much more beneficial
and lasting than this pertaining to the mortal body,
and far advanced beyond that object ; approaching
tpiXTtiAjL more nearly, as it would seem, 1^ a fulfilment of the
perfect doctrine of regeneration preached by Jesus
Christ and his apostles, than any other known ; for, by
an eflTectual baptismal purification, they also prepared
the way, and by a gradual subjugation of the passions
and adaptation of the subordinate powers to reason,
the wdiole hypostasis was converted finally through
faith into the identity of substant light within.
And it appears that, in order to discover this Reason,
men had in former times the faith to put the question
to Nature rationally : not rudely indeed, or, as is with
modern chemistry the fashion, to demohsh her edifices
and burn her out of life and home; but they knocked,
as was bid them, and the doors being opened from
within, they enjoyed and took advantage of their en-
trance as lawful guests : and, when all was ready, and
they were admitted to the inner chamber, we observe
' See Crullhis' Pbilosopliy, The True PliVfic, chap. i. Also B.
Valeutiue's (."liariot dt" Aittimony. )). 42. <tc.
^ J
Experimental Method, 263
them still, not so much engaged in noting phenomena,
or looking about for facts to furnish private judgment ;
but more becomingly inquisitive, addressing them-
selves to Nature, and admiring there where they found
her happily exalted above them, sphered in the magian
circle of her own light : not stupidly gazing either, but
speculative, how they might approach nearer and be-
come worthy of the knowledge and famiHarity of that
light. For they w^ere not content with first phe-
nomena, nor did Theurgists disturb the divine intellect
about trifling concerns ; but they consulted it about
things which pertain to purification, liberation, as
Jamblicus tells us, and the salvation of life. Neither
did they studiously employ themselves in questions
which are indeed difficult, yet useless, to mankind ; but,
on the contrary, they directed their attention to things
which are beneficial to life, and such as tend towards
the discovery of truth. ^
No man enters the magian' s school, it seems, but
he wanders awhile in the region of chimeras ; and the
inquiries which he makes before attaining to experi-
mental knowledge are many, and often erroneous. ^
But investigation, once begun in a right rectifying
spirit, enters,- & the adepts^ who having set the chain
of vital causes in action, succeeded in tracing them to
their last efficient link in ^cleity ; whence surveying,
they were enabled, under the divine will, to work such
perfection in things below as are supernatural to this
life, and greater than the natural intellect is able to
conceive. For the Central Light and Wisdom was all
their aim, and the way to it was all the revelation they
valued or asked for, until the hidden Divinity was
moved into experience and made manifest in effect and
power.
But what say our GEdipus distillers of this Ether,
the instructive'^ Alchemists? Lay the line to thy
thoughts and examine all patiently, and infer from
_/ 1 See Jamblicus de Mysteriis, sect. vii. cap. viii.
2 See Vaughau's I.umen de Lumine, p. 40, &c. B. Valentine's
Chariot sub initio, Norton's Ordinal, c. iv. &c.
JD
264 Laws and Conditions.
experience, and thou art in the way to become in-
fallible. Take hold of that Rule which God hatli
given thee for thy direction, by which thou mayest
discern the right from the wrong. Seek not for that
in nature which is an effect beyond her strength ; you
must help her, that she may exceed her common
course, or all is to no ])urpose ; for the Mercury of
the Wise comes not but by help of ingenuity and in-
dustry.^ But he that devoteth himself to philosophy,
says Crollius, and shall sincerely and as he ought
come to the inner rooms of nature by a holy assiduity
of preparations, joining thereto diligent contemplation
of natural causes, and withal shall refuse no pains or
difficulties to get experience by the industry of his
handy work, he shall, if the grace of the most High
be infused into him, bring forth far greater things out
of this open bosom of nature than they seem to pro-
mise at first sight.^ To the same effect Van Helmont
writes, that the attainment of the Tree of Life is la-
borious, and the fruit of intellectual research.^ Excel-
lent, also, is this advice of Basil Valentine, and
instructive to the point : Learn and look for the first
foundation, says the monk, which nature holds con-
cealed ; search for it even with thine own eyes and
hand, in order that thou mayest be able to philoso-
phise with judgment and build upon the impregnable
rock ; but, without this discovery, thou wilt continue a
vain and phantastic trifler, whose discoursings, without
e.iperieiue, are built upon sand. Let not any one
imagine either that we can be satisfied with mere
words, who rather exact documents proved by ex-
perience, in which we are bounden to have faith.'*
1 Lumen de Luminc, page 39. Liillii Theoria et Practica, cap.
Ixviii et Ixxxviii.
' See the Admonitory Preface of Osw aid Crollius, page x.
3 Oreatrike, p. 631, 710, kc. 4to.
^ Disce igitur, disputator mi, et inquire primum fundamentum
ipsis oculis et manu, quod natura secutn fert absconditum : sic
demi^m prudenter, et cum judicio inexpugnabilem Petram jedifi-
care poteris. Sine hoc autem vanus et phantasticus nugator
manebis, ciijus sermones absque ilia Expericntia supra arenam
Experimental Method. 265
Such are a few of the preliminary lessons of adepts,
in which they all agree that the way to AVisdom is by
patience and rational inquiry. Some scattered spe-
cimens of the kind we have remarked in the writings / .
of LuUy, and Michael Mayer and others, to which in ' i-,
the Practice we shall have occasion to allude. That
they did not investigate trifling matters is indeed
obvious, but diligently, fi'om the first, concerning the
intimate causes of things ; and how they might
themselves enter into the fundamental experience,
their anxiety is manifest and the truly philosophic
inclination of their mind.
But the contemplation which absolves the Second
part of our admonition is cdestial, continues the
monk Basil, and to be understood with spiritual
reason ; for the circumstances of everything cannot
be perceived any other way than by the spiritual
cogitation of man, considering how nature may be
helped and perfected by resolution of itself, and how
the destruction and compaction are to be handled,
whereby under a just title, without sophistical deceits,
the pure may be separated from the impure.^ For it
is no graft from this life that enters into the divine
foundation, nor any arbitrary instinct; natural reason,
even the most acute, is dull here comparatively, and
inoperative, and stands in the Philosophic Work,
albeit necessary, as a mere circumstantial aid on the
threshold of the divine inquiiy, as it were an iron
key, intended to unlock the golden treasury of light
within. And no sooner, we are informed, has it done
this, and, further extricating itself, helped to introduce
the spiritual intellect into self-knowledge^ than this
latter, returning with power upon the life without,
proceeds to analyze and revolutionize, proving all, as
may be said, chemically by the fiery essence of its
polum fimdati sunt. Qui autem sermocinationibus suis et nugis
me aliquid docere vult, is me verbis tantum nudis non pascat, sed
ExperientisD factum documentum simul sit prsesto oportet, sine
quo nou teueor verbis locum dare, fidemque iis adbibere, &c.
1 B. Valentine's Chariot of Antimonv, sub initio.
266 Laws and Conditions.
newly conceived Law. It is this vital perscrutinator,
the internal Jive of the sulphur of thy water, as
Eireneus calls it, that, investigating scientifically,
operates the whole change. And it is happily pro-
vided against intruders, lest the casket should be
rifled of its rich offering, that they only who have
obtained this passport can attain to the Magistery
of Life ; since they only, literally speaking, can enter
in through the narrow gate, as in the Mysteries we
have already described. And the discovery is difficult,
and reputed tedious by many who have spared no
/ , labour either of body or mind in the research — reclusa
'-t- resed/t longius, as the poet says ; it is far off, gotten in
the penetralia, as it were, the flower of human intellect,
triply imprisoned in the dark body's hold. This it is
the business of the philosopher to open and set free ;
and this is the security, that he must be a lover of
Wisdom who can set her free.
Our fire is the true sulphur of Gold, says Eireneus,
which in the hard and dry body is imprisoned, but by
the mediation of our water it is let loose, by rotting
the moles of the body (/. e., of the ethereal body)
under which it is detained ; and after separation of the
elements (of the same body) it appears visibly in our
Third Menstrual. But the means to discover this
is not a light work, it requires a profound meditation :
for this is the seed of Gold, involved in many links,
and held prisoner, as it were, in a deep dungeon ; he
that knows not our two Jirst menstrua Is is altogether
shut out from attaining to the sigJU of this Third and
last : yet he who knows how to prepare the Jirst
water, and to join it to the body in a just pondus, to
shut it up in its vessel philosophicall//, until the infant
be formed, and, what is greater than all, to govern his
fire dexterously , so as to cherish internal heat with
external, and can wait with patience till he see signs ;
he shall perceive the Jirst water will work on the
body till it hath opened the pores and extracted partly
the tincture of Sol. Take counsel ; be not so careful
of the lire of the Athanor as of vour internal Fire.
Experimental Method. 267
Seek it in the house of Aricfi, and draw it from the
depths of Satiii^n ; let Mercury be the interval, and
your signal the Doves of Diana}
On some such errand, we may remember, the Sybil
sends iEneas, that, from out many entanglements and
obscurity, he may discover and bring to her the Golden
Bough, well directing him how to look from beneath
upwards, and take it in hand.
Alte vestiga oculis ; et rite repertum,
Carpe manu ; namque Ipse volens facilisque sequetur,
Si te fata vocant ; aliter, nou viribus uUis
Vincere, nee dui'o poteris convellere ferro.'^
So Orpheus, in his Argonautics, leading to the Cave
of Mercury, exhorts mankind how they ought to act
and study there.
At qujecimque virum ducit prudentia cordis
Merciirii ingredier spelimcam plurima ubi ille
Deponit bona, stat quorum praegrandis acervus
Ambabus valet liic mauibus sibi sumere, et ista
Ferre domuin, valet hie visitare incommoda cuncta.
He, therefore, who wishes to partake of many
goods, let him approach to the Cave of Mercury,
which, according to the Hermetic interpretation, is
Taenerus, the most hidden vapour of life : let him
enter with a prudent motive, well understanding and
allied to what he seeks ; and that which he shall bear
away from thence. Centaur-like, in both his Hands,
will be the mineral radix and true matter of the Her-
metic Art. But if he have not a right mind, and
unless the predestinated conditions and the order of
operation be observed, all will be vain ; for the power
will remain hidden, despite of every effort, in a pu-
sillanimous uncongenial soul. Nescit Sol comitis non
memor esse sui ; Ignire ignis amat, non aurificare sed
aurum. Fire loves fire, say they, not to make gold,
but to assimilate it. Take, therefore, that body which
^ See Ripley Eevived, pages 2G3, 266, 69.
'^ ^neid, lib. vi. 145. "
268 Laws and Conditions.
is gold, not a brazen ferment, and throw it into
Mercury — such a Mercury as is bottomless, or
whose centre it can never find, but by discovering its
own.'
This is the Art of CEdipus, which, well conducted,
with the Sphinx, ends in her subjugation ; in other
words, the Ethereal Spirit abandons her phantasy, and
yields the clear light of understanding to him who,
having been duly educated and singled out, knows
how and wherewith to investigate her peculiar es-
sence. Thus, Synesius says — Intellect above all things
separates whatever is contrary to the true purity of
the phantastic Spirit ; for it attenuates this spirit in
an occult and ineffable manner, and extends it to
Divinity.^ But the natural Intellect cannot do this,
neither comprehending properly, or being conceived of
the Spirit ; neither is its essence so acutely penetra-
tive as to operate the change required. Salt is good,
but if the Salt have lost its savour wherewith shall it
be seasoned?
And here the common difficulty ensues, as language
becomes less and less adequate to convey to the
natural understanding the truth alleged. To conceive
at once the free perspicacity which experience and
long study bestowed on those men, their assertion of
the magic action of mind in her own spheres, the effi-
cient force of an individual freed wdll upon the vehicle
of its motive cause, separating, refining, and transmut-
ing it from an impure, dull consistency to the clear
light of universal intelligence, is arduous to the unac-
customed mind ; and in this age, which is without
a witness, without experimental knowledge, we should
say, of true causahty, most especially adverse ; yet it
will be necessary, having so far ventured, to discuss
the point ; and, as well as we may be enabled, to sub-
stantialize without deforming this Intellectual Science.
^ See Ripley Revived, page 206. Maieri Atalanta Fugiens, Ein-
blema xviii. Lumen de Lumine, p. 97.
^ See the extract from Synesius de Somuiis, in Taylor's Proclus
on Euclid.
Experimental Method. 269
It may be remembered, in a former citation from his
book to the Athenians, Paracelsus saying, that Sepa-
ration is the greatest miracle in philosophy, and that
magic the most singular by which it is effected ; very
excellent for quickness of penetration and swiftness of
operation, the like whereof Nature knows not. Now
this Separation, of which he speaks, and of which
all the Hermetic Masters speak, appears to be identical
with that which is described as taking place in the
Mysteries, when the great ordeals are passed through
during the decomposition and death of the natural
life. The analogy bears throughout from the begin-
ning in suffering, succedent dread, dissolution, and cor-
ruption, to the final resurrection of the pure Ether
into Light. This Separation is indeed the primary
object of the Art which, continues our doctor, if it
were divinely done by God alone, it would be to
no purpose to study after it ; but there is a free power
in the creature to its mutual affection and destruction ;
and, again — The free will flourisheth and is conversant
in virtue, and is either friend or foe in our works ;
but that is the sequestatrix, which gives to every
thing its form and essence.^ Which is the part espe-
cial of Intellect, that sariie perscrutinating Intellect
which Hermes speaks of,^ and where in the Smaragdine
Table it is written — Separahis, Thou shalt separate
the earth from the fire, the subtle from the gross,
gently, with much sagacity ; it will ascend from earth
to heaven, and again descend from heaven to earth,
and will receive the strength of the Inferiors and
of the Superiors : this is the strong fortitude of all
fortitudes, overcoming every strong and penetrating
every solid thing: therefore let all obscurity flee
before thee ; so the world was created, and hence are
all wonderful adaptations of which this is the manner.^
So passing wonderful is it i^j^at^ by the same reputed ^^<jpC
' First book to tlie Athenians, text 9 and 10.
^ Tractatiis Aureus, cap. ii.
^ Tabula Smaragdina Hermetis.
270 Laws and Conditions.
author, in the Asclepius, that man should be able
not only to find the Causal Nature but to effect it.'
Nor ought we, therefore, taking into consideration
the human agency, to understand this decomponency
of life in a mechanical sense, or in any ordinary way
of dissolution ; but, according to the literal wording
of the Table, we observe Mind to be the true Separa-
tor, the efficient as well as the regimen of the work,
into which, as before shown, no foreign admixture is
allowed to enter. And thus we are given to under-
stand that the knowledge of the elements of the
ancient philosophers was not corporally nor impru-
dently sought after, but is through patience and
Wisdom to be discovered according to their causes
and their occult operation; for their operation truly
is occult, since nothing is discovered except the mat-
ter be decomposed, and because it is not perfected
unless the whole introversion is passed through. —
Auditor, understand, reiterates the great Master ; let
0 us use our Reason — consider all with the most accurate
O^ investigation, the whole rnatter^5=»»d know to be One
only Thing. ^
And as folly, and phantasy, and passion are modes
of being of the One Thing, and Reason is another ; and
as the phantasy, if suffered to prevail, will convert all to
her own folly in the internal life ; so may we judge con-
trariwise, that this Reason gaining the ascendancy,
would gather all up, as a ferment, into the superior
essence and traction of her own Light. This Lully
intimates ; and Arnold, and Bacon, and Geber, with the
rest, abundantly celebrating the virtues of their Head
Stone.-'
But if any one should be further dis])osed to ([ues-
tion their doctrine or demur about the physical eificacv
of this Reason, let him for a plea only regard the image
' Asclepius, cap. xiii., see motto on title page.
- Tract. Aur. cap. iv.
•' See Lullii Theovia et Practica, et Arbor Scientise, Brancha
Human. Arnoldi Speculum, Geber Invest, of Perf. ; and again in
Manget, Suniantur I.apis in capitulis notus, etc.
Experimental Method. 271
of it in this life. What else is it hut reason, that
enables us to analyze and judge opinion, to govern our
passions, and separate facts from falsehood in the un-
derstanding? And with the logical faculty, is there
not a universal evidence which subsists by faith, an
independent standard by which all things are measured
and proven in life ? Considering this standard of our
common faith, abstractedly a prior necessity of being
also, will be understood, an infinite sufficience, magni-
tude and eternity of duration ; and thus obtaining a
glance only of the antecedent, we find less difficulty
in imagining the superior virtue of that which is
the Reason of our Rule ; well remembering that it is
of this the ancients speak, calling it Wisdom, Intellect,
Gold, Sol, Sulphur, Tincture. Intellectus naturam ha-
bens subtilem ad intelligendum res intelligibiles par-
ticipate cum entibus intensis et cum entibus extensis,
viz., cum intenso calore corporis, cum quo conjunctus
est et cum intensa bonitate sustentata in suis intensis
concretis.^ For it is Light indeed, and an occult
splendor of existence transcendently pure ; and as the
luminary of the sensible world purifies and subtilizes
the gross parts of matter, and by a natural chemistry
sublimes and converts the varied elements of earth, so
are we taught to conceive of the Intellectual sun ; for
those things which the natural reason as an image
enacts theoretically, this supernatural reason is said to
do as an archetype essentially ; separating and reject-
ing the false forms and elementary qualities which
supervene through generation, assimilating the whole in-
ferior life by continual trituration of its foreign tincture,
and imparting, according to its paradigmatic virtue,
perfection to such faculties as are indigent by pure in-
fusion of Itself to the passified Spirit throughout, even
as light through the open atmosphere is everywhere
seen diflfusing itself invigorating and manifesting all.
' Lullii Arbor X. Scientiae, p. 99, de Intellectu qui est Branclia
Spiritualis Arboris Humanalis. See also iu Plotinus' Select Works,
a very beautiful treatise on the Gnostic Hypostasis.
272 Laws and Conditions.
The following remarkable extract from the list works
of Anaxagoras, one of the earliest of the Greek Her-
metic School, further exemplifying the nature of such
an Intellect, confirms what has been said above of its
efficient operation. The passage, as preserved by Sim-
plicius, is given in a note to Aristotle's Metaphysics,
by Taylor, page 7, and runs thus : —
Intellect is infinite and possesses absolute power,
and is not mingled with any thing ; but is alone itself
by itself. For if it were not by itself, but were
mingled with something else, it would participate of
all things, for in every thing there is a portion of every
thing ; and things mingled together would prevent it
from having a similar dominion over things, as when
alone by itself. For it is the most attenuated and
pure of all things. It likewise possesses an universal
knowledge of eveiy thing, and is in the highest sense
pow^erful. Whatever soul possesses greater or lesser,
over all these Intellect has dominion. Every thing too
that comprehends or contains is subject to its power ;
so that it even comprehends the Principle itself. And
first of all indeed, it began from that which is small
to exercise its comprehending power, but afterwards
it comprehended more and more abundantly ; Intellect
also knew all that was mingled together, and separated
and divided, together with what they would in future
be, what they had been, and Avhat they now are. All
these Intellect adorned in an orderly manner, together
with this circular enclosure which is now comprehended
teg by the stars, the sun, and the moon, the air and
the ether, which are separat»g from each other. But
this comprehending Intellect made things to be sepa-
rated; and separated the dense from the rare, the hot
from the cold, the lucid from the dark, and the dry
from the moist. There are many parts indeed of many
things ; but in short no one thing is singular by itself
except Intellect. Every Intellect too is similar, both
the greater and tlie lesser ; but no otiier thing is
similar to another.'
' Aristotle's Metaphysics, note, page 7.
'o,
Experimental Method. 273
That is to say, no other faculty is universal, or of
itself alone consciously distinguishable pJuat this root ej^aJ^M-'^
of reason which is truly catholic ; and so by the micro-
cosmic experiment into It, the knowledge of the ma-
crocosmic Cause also was derived. For in the Hermetic
process they are seen to co-operate ; and all that
Anaxagoras here speaks of as relatively past, has been
described as present by philosophers on the internal
ground. Else, how should men have asserted^such
things (abQjut_jntejJect_ajid the rational facjilty/as by
no means belong to the natural revelation of it, if they
had not known another and proved the work divine? (^
No one could assert them now. fesr believe, indeed, ^o»xi2y
that mind is asgrthing really but an elaboration of the
brain, a resulting phenomenon of organization. Sen-
sible evidence favours such an opinion, for life is no-
where seen apart by itself, but follows constantly as a
result of material generation in order of effect to cause ;
and human reason, as a ray of light, reflected apart
from its originating focus, is halting and impotent in
respect of nature, and unconscious of its First Source.
There is a piece of Egyptian mythology, related by
Eudoxus in Plutarch, concerning Jupiter, that his feet
had grown together and that he was forced to live in
solitude, and ashamed of himself as it were ; until at
length Isis, pitying his forlorn condition, succeeded in
cutting them asunder, and so restored him to himself
and to society. And this, continues the scholar, is
designed to represent to us that the mind and reason
of the Supreme God, which in nature is invisible and
dwelling in obscurity, by being put in motion becomes
known, and proceeds to the production of other
beings.^ And this too is an allegory of the Art, in
which the purified spirit or inteUigence, that is Isis, by
dissolving the vital medium, opens the occult source,
and draws the Voluntary Efficient upward into intel-
lectual reminiscence. And this latAat one thing aeed-- ^
6iLjidiicli-4ua^it to be consummated, that man may
know himself; whence, what for, and whereto, he is
^ See the Treatise De Iside et Osiride.
T
Vc(^
274 Laws and Conditions.
allied. — All is one soul, says the Magian, but reason,
unless it be illuminated, is not free from error, and
Light is not given to reason except God impart it ; for
the first Light is in God. far exceeding all understand-
ing.^ And Aristotle says, That Intellect must be as-
sumed which is most perfectly purified ; the know-
ledge of which must be sought for in spirit or spirits,
bv iiim who aspires to obtain it. For this indeed is
pure, and possesses an ineffable beaut}^ because it is
nothing but Intellect. For the beauty of Spirit is the
highest beauty when it energizes intellectually, with-
out error, and purely ; and it knows things not as
discovered by human labour, but as they are unfolded
by the Divine will.^ The Alexandrian Plotinus also
speaking of such an Intellect, describes the material
of it as beautiful, and as far surpassing ordinary intel-
ligence, as paradigms are wont to do the images which
represent them ; and the soul receives with it, he says,
a sudden Light, and this Light is from Intellect, and
is also It.^
It would be mere perplexity, and evince a want of
rational perception, to regard this Reason therefore as
inessential ; or as arbitrary, either in operation, or
event ; since, in our mere individual consciousness it
is the foundation of all law — the only unerring neces-
sity of faith in this life ; the luminous revelation of
which in a purified human intcUigencc, is that perfect
beginning of Wisdom, which is half of the perfect whole.
Dimidium facti qui bene cocpit habet, says the phi-
losopher ; for a small grain of the metaphysical fer-
ment, leavens the whole lump. And as the grain of
wheat is putrefied in the earth, and afterwards by the
tc^cJi .nouriohmcnt of watoi? becomes growing wheat, termi-
nating and multiplying in the fermental form inbred,
so the metaphysical graft, already purified and passed
^ Agrippa's Third Book of Occult Phil. chap, xliii.
2 This passage is taken from one of those singularly instructive
treatises attributed to Aristotle by his Arabian compilers, as
rendered by Taylor, from the Latin of Albertus Magnus in his
Dissertation, book iii.
•'' Plotinus, Select Works on the Gnostic Hypostasis, &c.
Experimental Method. 275
the fire, re-enters to redeem its congenital life, and
finally by assimilation transmutes all into the sub-
stance of its own Aurific Light.
During the process of working this leaven, many
phenomena arise, and those wonders which, having
been variously observed, are described and poetized ;
for this acute discriminative sulphuric Spirit occasions
a putrefaction of the philosopher's Mercury, i. e. of the
impure vapour of life, into which it enters, so that all
the elements are in commotion, raging, swelling, and
rolling like a tempestuous sea ; darkness, made visible
by the appearing light, shrinks more and more con-
densing ; and falsehood, as it were, trembling for her
kingdom, puts on every sinister guise, to combat and
eclipse the living truth, as, increasing in power and
armed with bright eftulgence, it arises, threatening
to dissipate the total fabric, and dissolve its very
foundation.
So did the armour of Achilles, while yet far off he
only showed himself, dismay the assembled hosts of
Troy ; that shield so ominous in its device, breast-
plate, and helmet's crest of gold, forged by Vulcan,
at Thetis's prayer for her hero in Olympus ; where-
with he single-handed overcame them all — gods, men,
and rivers — triumphant in the divine fury which roused
him to the fight. ^ And here the poetic allegory like-
wise is apparent ; Achilles does not appear at all in
arms, nor has he these, until after Patroclus, his bosom /
friend, is slain; just as Misen^s' funeral rites must be I ^/
celebrated before .y^neas is allowed to journey to the
infernal shades.^ Peculiar too the rites are, which the
Sybil enjoins, and the sacrifices to be made to those
remains, as at the pile of Patroclus, set on the sea-
shore. Let it not be believed that Virgil on this or
on any other occasion was so servile an imitator, jjfor
that either poet is relating events of human history,
' See Iliad, book x. ApoUon. Ehodius Argonaut, lib. ii.
So the gloomy god
Stood mute with fear to see the golden rod, &c.
2 ^neid, lib. vi. 149.
T 2
h\pu
276 Laws and Conditions.
or magnifying the heroes of a common fight; but
Virgil and Homer agree in this, that they adopted the
same theme, had witnessed the same heroic conflict,
the same summary action of Divine vengeance and
mysterious metamorphosis of Ufe ; their warriors,
therefore, are demigods divinely tutored and sus-
tained— free from the dilemma of earthly difficulties,
and in their strength and use of it sublime. If tra-
dition was useful to supply their imagery, the inci-
dents are nevertheless woven into a mystical ac-
cord, and natural probability and the relations of time
are unscnipulously sacrificed to the report of Truth.
And they who have partaken of the same mystic
knowledge from the Greeks — Plato, Proclus, Por-
C^\, phyiy, to Faber, ToUius, and Michael Ma^, the
golden chain of Hermetic philosophers — unanimously
tracing even through minutest incidents their allusion,
— have claimed those poets for their own. Skilfully,
doubt not, they have delineated the most poetical of
Arts ; and the admiring world has listened, but with-
out understanding ; and may long continue to do so :
— Yet we will proceed : —
For the friends of those heroes must die indeed, as
they arc said to do — those bosom friends — and be
lamented ; for the celestial medial life which, in the
order of divine rites, precedes the heroic work, is by
necessity cut off, even in its prime ; when perfected at
all points, is shut up and buried ; all but the hallowed
memory burning to retrieve. Thus the excellent
poet Manzoli, whose assumed name of Palingenius
denotes one regenerated, divulges the artificial method
in the few following hues : —
Ilunc juvenem Arcadium, infidiim, niuiiumque fugacera,
Prendite, et inimersum Stygiis occidite lymphis.
]\Tt)x TTyales gremio impositum. Dens excipiat quein
Lemnia terra colit, siiblatumque in cruce figat.
Tunc sepelite utero in calido et dissolvite putreni,
Cujus stillantes artns de corpore nostro,
Spiritus egredius penetrabit, et ordine miro,
Paulatim extinctum nigris revooabit ab umbris
Aurata indutum chlaniyde, argentoque nitonteni ;
X
Experimental Method. 277
Projicite hunc demum in prkaoe, renovabitiir alter hh^-iyrxjCi^
Ut Phoenix, et qu93 tangit perfecta relinquet '
Corpora, Naturae leges et foedera vincens :
Mutabit species paupertatemque fugabit. (Tj)
Which has been rendered thus : —
Take this Arcadian slippery lad that's apt to fly,
And in the glittering Stygian lake, drowned let him die,
Then set on Hyale's lap, let Lemnos' God
Take him to feed, and crucify the lad.
Then in a warm womb placed, his taint dissolve.
Whose dropping limbs a spirit shall devolve,
To him and penetrate ; and strangely so.
Dead by degrees, shaU bring to life anew
All clad in robes of gold and silver hue.
Cast him again on hot coals, Proteus like
He'll be renewed, and aU he touches make
Most perfect ; nature's laws and promises excel,
Species he'll change and poverty repel.
Nothing is done radically to meliorate the Vital
Spirit previous to this dissolution of the first medial
life : so Hyanthe died, so Hylas at the fountain, /
Adonis, Misen^s, Elpenor, Patroclus, too, before the /CaJ
heroic virtue was brought into act. It needs a motive /
and excitation ; and this is given by artifice of the
Divine Law depriving it when in full vigour of its
Understanding Light. So Eurydice was lost to Orpheus
and Proserpine by Pluto's stratagem, whom the god-
dess Ceres too bewails ; for the identical dilemma is
common to these all, who personate the wanderings
and anguish of Intellect so artificially isolated on the
plain of Truth.
'Tis not in fate th' alternate then to give,
Patroclus dead, Achilles hates to live.
Let me revenge it on proud Hector's heart,
Let his last spirit smoke upon my dart ;
On these conditions will I breathe, till then
I blush to walk among the race of men.^
Nor all in vain was that vindictive will conceived,
or those heroic tears, though Pope has rendered them
2- Pope's Homer's Iliad, book xviii. xx. to c. also Fawke's Apol--
lonius Ehodius Argonuatics, boolv i. He too Alcides, ^c.
278 Laws and Conditions.
" unavailing." Not so the master. Nor is anything,
we believe, in that so lengthened Iliad of woes un-
purposed, or with all its inconsistencies, untrue : but
in those particulars above all suggestive, which are
to common sense least bent ; such weeping warriors,
so much brave reserve, such radiant armour, such a
magic strength of hand, and eye, and voice, to kill
and terrify whole armies and convulse the elements,
belongs but to one race, one cause, one conflict ; Di-
vinity mingles but in one, the war of life. And for
this cause the Heroic Will enters in, self-sacrificing,
and stirs up the bitter waters, to redeem and reinstate
the kingdom lost. But Achilles, too, must die and
sufl:'er, as was predestinated, before the fatal gates, as
iEneas leaves the dedicated bough in Tartarus. For
how otherwise should that which is sown be quick-
ened unless it die ? Does not the grain putrefy in the
moist earth before it springs ? So each succeeding life
must die, as transplanted in the next, it dissolves, cor-
rupts, and rises into a better form. For when thou
sowest, as the great Apostle says, thou sowest not
that body that shall be ;^ but it is the Law especial of
spiritual generation that the parent is bettered in the
offspring, even to the fourth generation, or fifth, if
this happily should be attained. — There is an earthly
body and there is a spiritual body — the terrestrial is
bettered in the celestial, and the celestial, descending
and overcoming, is conceived into the divine. No
man ascends up into heaven but he who came down
from heavot, even the sooi of man which is in heaven.
f/j-^j\^j This is the true Light which lighteth/,nian that conieth
^' into the world, which in the Saviour was perfected;
one ray of which is able to cleanse this leprous life of
ours, and convert it to the purest spiritual extreme.
Cujus de lurnine lumen
Omuc niicat ; sine quo tenebrescunt lucida de quo
(yr\ClyrryU£^^\^ Lucescunt tenebrce atque i»aiiie*» noctis imago.
Speaking of the Intellectual Essence, Plotinus writes
^ St. Paul to the Corinthiaais, 1st ep. xv. 37.
Experimental Method. 279
to the effect, that we should not at first hope to ob-
tain the universal subject, but through the medium of
an image, and be satisfied — such is his expression — with
a certain portion of gold, as a representative of uni-
versal gold ;^ and therefore Anaxagoras says, it begins
from that which is small to exercise its comprehending
power. Ramus, non arbor — The bough, not the whole
tree, is to be taken. For, in however small a propor-
tion, if the reason be but pure, it will penetrate
according to its purity, and gather growth ; but if it
be not pure, in other words, if the motive be not uni-
versal, it must be returned, to work, and resolve, and
meditate, and prove, until it finds experience at length
in the supreme Unity of its Law. To find the true
Separator is described, in fact, as the greatest diffi-
culty ; ^ as we may remember also in Virgil, the tree
is hid.
Hunc tegit omnis
Liicus et obscuris claudaut convallibus umbrae.
The tree of life covered over, indeed, with the dark
oblivion of this natural outbirth, is latent and difficult
to find, even for him who has already passed the tur-
bulent waters of the senses' medium and sees within.
For it lies not in art merely, or in natural cunning,
but with the celestial instinct only to reveal ; that
subtle Maternal intelligence which originally conceived
it, and can alone lead into the yet more central, ante-
cedent, Paternal light of life.
Maternas agnoscit aves laetusque precatur
Este duces, 0, si qua via est cursumque per auras
Dirigite iu lucos, ubi piuguem dives opaeat
Eamus humuin.'^
Thus has the premeditation of the Divine Art been
poetized ; and the discovery of that heroic, separable,
triply refined intellectual purpose, which has been so
1 Select Works; Ennead, v. lib. viii.
2 L. Comitibus MetaUar. Nat. Oper. lib. iv. cap. vii. ; Chrysopaea
lib. ii.
3 ^neid. lib. vi. 138, 193.
280 Laws and Conditions.
often and under so many names personified — Hercules,
Jason, Lynceus, Perseus, Cadmus, GEdipus, Diony-
siis, Achilles, Bacchus, Amphiaraus, our Son, as
Hermes calls him, born a king^ who, taking his tinc-
ture from the fire^passes through darkness, and death,
and Stygian waters. This is that prolific Mustard-seed,
and Light of divine Faith, which being the proper sub-
stance of the thing hoped for, penetrates into the yet
unseen reality of life ; it is this, which, visiting the
interior rectifying, discovers the occult Stone — the
hidden Medicine. Such was the Caduceus of Hermes —
the Golden Bough, the ferrying Cup of Hercules, and
all the golden passports admitting to those realms, so
dangerous to folly, and dehghtftil to Wisdom recover-
ing her lost Efficient in the Light of life.
This vertical separated Light then we take henceforth
to be the true alterative principle in the Divine Art, —
The Alchemists are excessively wary in speaking of it,
as they are indeed concerning the human circumstances
of the mystery throughout. For as we may by this time
perceive, it is no common light that enters into Di-
vinity, but a congenial ray ; a Power which glancing
forth from the capable will of suchj^ as are divinised,
tta^, is essentially Divine. The persevering Trevisan
worked for upwards of half a century in vain, until he
found this ; and Pontanus in his Epistle confesses how
he erred tw^o hundred times, experimenting even after
he had attained a general knowledge of the matter
and method of its use, never correctly divining the
Identity of the singular thing itself. Seek therefore,
he says, writing to his friend, seek to know this Fire
with all thy soul, that so thou may est attain to thy
desire ; for it is the key of all the philosophers which
they have never openly revealed. But profound medi-
tation alone can give it to thee, so thou mayest dis-
cern, and not otherwise.^ Other examples w'e have in
Zachary, and in Flamn^el ; w ho, after he was conversant
in the matter^ and had both fire and furnace indicated
to him by Abraham the Jew, wandered in the wilder-
^ See Pontanus Ejiistle in Theat. Chem.
Experimental Method. 281
ness of uncertainty for three several years. Madathan,
another celebrated adept, is cited by Vaughan as
having practised for five years together unsuccessfully^,
until at last, he says^ after the sixth year, I was en-
trusted with the Key of Power, by a secret revelation
from Almighty God,^ Contemplate therefore and ob-
serve, says Basil Valentine, these things diligently, for
in the preparation of Antimony consists the Key of
Alchemy, and this principal key is of great concern.
Be it known, moreover, that our stone of Fire (which
is Antimony) ought to be boiled and maturated with
the corporeal fire of the microcosm, for at the farewell,
or ne plus ultra, of the operative fire of the macro-
cosm, the fire of the microcosm doth begin the pro-
duction of a new species or generation ; and, there-
fore, let no man wonder at thiscoction,^ And believe
not only Basil, says Kirchwigius, but me ; with the
same faith and sincerity, afiirming to you that this
first key is the principal part of the whole Art ; this
opens the first gate, this will also unlock the last,
which leads into the palace of the king. Believe not
only, but consider and observe. Here you stand in
the entrance ; if you miss the door, all your course will
be en'or ; all your haste ruin ; and all your wisdom
foolishness. He who obtains this Key and knows the
method, which is called Manual Operation, by which to
use it, and hath strength to turn the same, will acquire
riches, and an open passage into the mysteries of che-
mistry,^
Sophistry, it will be observed therefore is no leader
in this Art, or avarice, or ignorance ; but he who pre-
sumes without the revelation of the Divine Light to
introduce his own blind purpose, instead of condition-
ating and inquiring patiently, will be in danger of
1 Post sextum annum clavis potentiae per arcauam revela- f\/} u^Qt^yrr^
tionem ab omnipotente Deo mihi concredita est, &c. ; see Lumen -/'/•x*/?^
de Lumine, p. 67. ^ H€Jy>^^^^ >
2 Chariot of Antimony, p. 24 ; Stone of Fire, pp. 160, 168; Idem,
p. 24; ako Dyou. Zachary Opusculvmi, part ii. ; Lucerna Salis, p.
64, &c.
282 Laws and Conditions
falling into infinite snares. The Law of Nature,
being simple and harmoniously framed, will baffle him
and rise up in judgment against his generation, and
condemn him to wander in the labyrinth alone. Hence,
all the care that is taken to train the true Inquisitor,
that he may obtain the passport clear, as we have
h\^0JH^ shown it; that he^know what, and where, and how he
/J ought to obey, and inquire, and will, and hope.
And it is therefore declared to all lovers of Art, says
.Jacob Bohme, whose Separator is an artist of great
subtlety in them, that they first seek God's love and
grace, and resign up themselves to become wholly one
with that : else all their seeking is but a delusion, or
a courting of a shadow, and nothing is found in any
fundamental, worth, unless one doth entrust another
with soiueivhat. The which is forbidden to the children
of God in whom the grace is revealed, that they cast
not pearls before swine, upon the pain of eternal pu-
nishment ; only it is freely granted to them to declare
the light, and to show the way of attaining the pearl :
but to give the divine Separator into the bestial hand
is prohibited, unless a man knoweth the way and will
of him that desires it.^
We do not see either that it is exactly possible to
give into such possession that which is divine ; except,
indeed, the Theosophist alludes to a mediate occupa-
tion. And this brings us to consider more i)articularly
the representative understanding, measure, and guar-
dian of the Light ; for, as we may remark in the fables,
the heroic adventurer with all his divine equipment,
though he loses his first companion, never goes
through the labours alone ; but is aided by stratagem
and wise council in the way. Without Ariadne's con-
duct, Theseus could not have tamed the Minotaur ; or
Jason, but for the ready counsel and assistance of
Medea, have obtained the fleece ; Eurystheus sets Her-
cules to the performance of each separate labour ; his
^ See Bohme's Epistles ; and to the same effect on The Turned
Eye ; printed with the rest of his works, in 4to.
Experimental Method. 283
mother aids Achilles ; JUpcnor, Ulysses ; and the Sybil
accompanies JEneas through the infernal shades. In
Alchemy, too, the Moon is singularly honoured ; for
it is the Passive Intelligence which, freed by art and
set in conjunction, responds to the Will of her seek-
ing Reason ; discovers the way of progress, unra-
velling the context of each involuted thought, and
setting aside obstacles with utmost discretion, passes
with him through the abyss, as it were the very king-
dom of confusion, triumphant over all and uncon- ^ .
founded. It is from within that the knowledge^ to- '^^^^^-^'^^^^
gether with the true efficient, t-pi'ii^f^ (which are indeed
one in principle, but in their practical operation and
for the sake of offspring are distinguished and sepa-
rately represented in the Art), revealing at the same
time their origin, essence, and destination. The mode
of analysis however is directed, and the means for the
most part provided by the Passive Understanding
gotten in transcendental contemplation of herself.
ISTUD EST VAS HeRMETIS, QUOD StOICI OCCULTA-
verunt, et non est vas nigromanticum sed est
Mensura Ignis tui.^
Both therefore have to be prepared — the spiritual
agent and the spiritual patient — according to those
words of the Smaragdine Table ; That which is above
is as that which is below, and that which is below is as
that which is above, for performing the miracles of the
One Thing whence all the rest proceed by adaptation.
It is not lawful therefore, in this work, to conjoin unlike
natures ; but, in order to bettering/ in the offspring,
equal Spirits are allied ; as Hermes says, both need the
help one of Miother, for the precepts demand a me-
dium -^ that as the crude natural life was in the first
place bettered in the natural, so the supernatural may
be so much further advanced within themselves, even
to the order of bodies permanent, being changed from
a corporeal to a spiritual extreme :
^ Maria Practica, in fine
- Tract. Aureus, cap. ii.
284 Laws and Conditions.
Ouvriei'.sur tout aye cure
Que I'art imite la nature,
L'externe feu de charbon
Rend la matiere alteree,
Mais I'iuterne et I'setheree
Faira ton ouvrage bon.'
The fire of the natural life stirs up and, being manu-
mitted, alters ; but the internal alone is able, being
purified, to perfect the work begun ; according to that
other saying of the sage — Si pariat ventum valet auri
pondera centum — if wind be made of gold it is worth
an hundredfold. Let us be careful therefore to dis-
tinguish, in our conception, the pure from the impure,
the rectified spirit of universal reason and its intelli-
gence from the gross ether and perplexed understand-
ing of this mundane sphere. For there cannot come
of any thing that virtue which it has not ; though
that which it has indeed may be improved and mag-
nified. And therefore it behoves us to mortify two
Argent vives together, says Hermes ; both to venerate
and to be venerated, viz., the Argent vive of Auripig-
ment and the Oriental Argent vive of Magnesia.^
Sol meus et kadii sunt in me intime, Ltjna veeo pro-
pbia meum lumen est, omne lumen supebans ; et bona
MEA OMNIBUS BONIS MELIOKA SUNT. PeOTEGE ME ET PEOTE-
GAM TE, LAEGIEI VIS MIHI MEUM UT ADJUVEM TE.^
These are they which sound the depths together ; the
Sun and Moon, philosophical. And as the influence
of the Moon, says Plutarch, seems to reflect the
ivorks of reason, and to proceed from Wisdom, so the
operations of the Sun are seen to resemble those
strokes which by mere dint of strength and force bear
down all before them. You also have been initiated
in those Mysteries in which there are two pair of eyes,
and it is requisite that the pair which are beneath
should be closed when the pair that are above them
perceive, and when the pair above are closed those
which are beneath should be opened. Think therefore,
^ Tract. Aureus, Scbolium, cap. i.
^ Tract. Aur. cap. iii.
•^ Idem, cap. iv.
Experimental Method. 285
says Synesius, explaining the same Egyptian Mythology
of Isis and Osiris, that this is an enigma indicative of
contemplation and action ; the intermediate nature
alternately energising according to each of these. ^ Pro-
clus, also dividing the ApoUonical Intellect, remarks
that the pi^ophetic power unfolds the simplicity of truth
and takes away the variety of that which is false ; but
the arrow-darting power exterminates everything,
furious and wild, and prepares that which is orderly
and gentle to exercise dominion, vindicating to itself
Unity. ^
Power alone, indeed, if destitute of the ruling aid of
Wisdom, would be borne along with violence, minghng
and destroying all things ; yet nature will not move by
mere theory either, and Intellect is therefore useless
for the purposes of action when deprived of the sub-
serviency of the hands. But these two concurring. Wis-
dom with Power in action, all things become possible ;
and in such a subtle and firm texture of divine
splendor and prophetic companionship, the Will may
descend in safety to the abodes of Power. A wise man
is strong, says the wise king, and knowledge increaseth
strength. Two are better than one, because they have
a good reward for their labour ; as in w^ater face an-
swers to face, so the heart of man to man.^
By mutual confidence and mutual aid
Great deeds are done and great discoveries made.
The wise new prudence from the wise acquire,
And one brave hero fans another's lire.'*
And as the Rational Efficient, armed with a bright
intelligence, discovers the evil of its first conception,
now appearing manifold within the veil, it proceeds
even to a dissolution of the yital bond, continually
1 See Extracts from his treatise on Providence, at the end of
Plotinus' Select "Works, by Taylor, p. 531 ; and Plutarch, Isis and
Osiris, circa mediam.
- Proclus on the Theology of Plato — Scholia on the Cratylus.
^ Proverbs, chap. xxiv. xxvii. Eccles. iv.
4 Iliad, book x. 265.
286 Laws and Conditions.
imaging its revelation in act.-Vfr*Belovcd brother, advises
the experienced and earnest Bohme, if you would
seek the Mystery, seek it not in the outivard spirit ;
you will there be deceived, and attain nothing hut a
glance of the mystery ; enter in even to the Cross,
then seek gold and you will not be deceived. You
must seek in another world for the pure child that is
without spot ; in this Vv'orld you find only the drossy
child, that is altogether imperfect ; but go about it in
a right manner ; enter in even to the cross in the
Fourth Form, there you have Sol and Luna together ;
bring them through an anguish into death, and bruise
that composed magical body so long until it become
asrain that which it was before in the centre of the
o
will ; and then it becometh magical and hungry after
nature. It is a longing in the eternal desire, and would
fain have a body; give it Sol, viz., the soul, that con-
joining they may conceive a body according to that
soul. So the Will springs up in Paradise with fair
golden fruits. We speak not here of a glass or image,
but of gold, whereof men vaunt themselves, their
idol god.^
In such few words does the Theosophist comprehend
the end and beginning of the Sacred Art, the sum of
the divine Intention and its vital fruits ; for by death
and contrition of the agent in the patient, and vice
versa, the old life is finally crucified ; and out of that
crucifixion, by reunion of the principles under another
law, the new life is elicited ; which life is a very real
and pure Quintessence, the Mercury so much sought
after, even the Elixir of Life ; which needs only the
corroborative virtue of the Divine light v.diich it draws,
in order to become the living gold of the philosophers,
transmuting and multiplicative — the concrete for??i of
that which in the dead metal we esteem. — O Nature,
the most magnanimous creatrix of natures ! cries the
Master, which containest and separatest all things in
a middle principle ! Our Stone comes with Light, and
Quest. 17, &c.
^O'Vtly'"
Experimental Method. 287
with Light it is generated ; and then it brings forth
the clouds, or darkness, which is the mother of all
things.^
Let us pause here, then, to consider what it was the
philosophers really searched for and discovered in this
Stone ; that we may be prepared to learn some more
definite particulars of their practice, and in what condi-
tion the vital elements are placed during their experi-
ment and recreation. We have seen that, next to the
first preliminaries, the object was to produce an altera-
tion in the Vital Spirit, and that this was operated by
a true Rational Analysis, which, repeatedly passed
through, leads on to a dissolution of the whole natural
born hypostasis, and is the condition proper to induce
a new life and growth into consciousness. That which
they sought after, and profess accordingly to have dis-
covered, therefore, is this miraculous principle of re-
generation ; by which the relationships of the vital
elements are exchanged ; the sensible medium, which
in this present birth is dominant, being made occult ;
and the occult supernatural reason of life, which is
catholic . ^fe^, becoming manifest in #B self-evidence
and power.
And this is the true way and means by which the
metaphysical body of gold will be made profitable, and
in no other way, as the adepts teach ; but by taking
that body, when it is found, and joining it with a spirit
which is consanguineous and proper to it, and circulat-
ing these two natures one upon the other, until one
have conceived by the other. — Pinge duos Angues,
cries Cornelius Agrippa ; or, to proceed in the more
suggestive language of his ingenious disciple — Take our
two serpents, which are to be found everywhere on the
face of the earth ; they are a li\dng male and a living
female (understand in relation to the spirit always
without all corporeal allusion) ; tie them in a love
knot and shut them up in the Arabian Caralia. This
is the Jirst labour ; but the next is more difficult.
Thou must incamp against them with the Jire of na-
^ Tractatus Aureus, cap. iii.
288 Laws and Conditions.
tare, and be sure thou dost bring thy line round
about. Circle them in, and stop all avenues, that they
find no relief. Continue this siege patientlij, and they
turn into an ugly venomous black toad ; which will be
transformed to a horrible devouring dragon, creeping
and weltering in the bottom of her cave, without
wings. Touch her not by any means, continues the
adept, not so much as with thy hands, for there is not
upon earth such a vehement transcendant poison. As
thou hast begun so proceed, and this dragon will turn
into a swan, but more white than the hovering virgin
snoiv when it is not yet sullied -with, the earth. Hence-
forth I will allow thee to fortify thy Jire, till the
Phcenix appears. It is a red bird of a most deep
colour with a sliining Jiery hue. Feed this bird with
i\\Qfire of his father and the ether of his mother ; for
the first is meat, the second is drink, and without this
last he attains not to his full glory. Be sure to un-
derstand this secret ; for Jire feeds not well unless it be
Jirst fed. It is of itself (hy and choleric, but a proper
■moisture tempers it, gives it a heavenly complexion and
brings it to the desired exattatioj/. Feed thy bi/^d then
as I have told thee, and he will move in his ?2est, and
rise like a star of the Jifinamenf. Do this, and thou
J hast placed nature in the horizon of Eternity. Thou
/\ ; hast performed that command of the ^abalist. Unite
■c^ ; the Old to the beginning as the flame is united to the
I coal; for the Lord is superlatively one and admits of no
second.^ Consider what it is you seek : you seek an
indissoluble, miraculous, transmuting, uniting union ;
but such a tie cannot be w^ithout the Jirst unity. For
to create and to transmute essentially and naturally
without violence is the proper office of i\\e Jirst power,
the Jirst wisdom and the Jirst love. Without this love
the elements will never be married ; they will never in-
ward and essentially unite ; which is the end and per-
fection of magic. '^
1 Liber Jezirah, cap. i. Fige fiuem in priucipio sicut flammam
pruna) coujunctani, quia Dominua superlative unus, et non tenet
Becundum.
2 Vaughan, Lumen cle Lumine, p. 62, and following.
Experimental Method. 289
ThusVaughan: the italics, copied from the original,
serve well to denote where a latent meaning- is implied
and those analogies which are aptly referrible throughout
the process. The following verses translated from the
Aquarium Sapieutian of about the same period, may help
to elucidate the subject further and lead on the dis-
cerning mind.
The spirit is given to the body for a time,
Aud that refreshing spirit washes the soul by art ;
If the spirit suddenly attracts the soul to itself;
Then nothing can separate it from itself.
Then they consist in Three and yet abide in one seat.
Until the noble body is dissolved, aud putrefy and sepai'ate from
them ;
Then after some time the spirit ajid soul come together
In the extreme or last heat, and each maintains its proper seat in
constancy.
Then, nothing wanting, an entire sound estate and perfection is
at hand.
And the work is glorified with great joy.^
This is the constant doctrine and rule of the regene-
ration of light out of darkness, of life from death ;
the solution of the sense-born spirit and its subsequent
sublimation, by a preponderant affinity artificially en-
dowed, into the transparent glory of its prototypic
form. And thus we learn from adepts, though parti-
culars vary, that nature was not proved by them at
random ; for neither does she move by theory only or
mere mechanic art, but by rational experiment and
the light of faith, which, entering, stirs up the inward
oppressed fire of the chaotic natural-born life, and en-
deavours to convert, as it were, by a pure conscience,
mo\ang the matter to a contrite state; which at length
penetrating to meet the self-willed Identity within, is
arrested, and the contest of good and evil commences in
the soul, each striving for the ascendant, until the latter
prevailing for a period {mek such being the necessitous
decree) an eclipsation of the light takes place, and a
dissolution of its body, as was before shown. And, as
we read in the fable, Typhon killed Osiris, his uterine
' Aquarium HapientAm, in Mus. Kerm. The Enigma.
u
29U Laws and Conditions.
brother, and scattered his members to the four winds
and usm'ped his rightful throne ; but Isis, re- collecting,
hides them in a chest : just so the ethereal hypos-
tasis is divided against itself and brought to a separa-
tion even as these three ; the soul, the spirit, and the
body's principle; the paternal, maternal, and proceed-
ing substance of life ; sulphur, mercury, salt. The sul-
phur, which is the soul and golden ferment, being dislo-
cated in its purpose by the opposive will, is carried
aloft to float upon the ethereal waters, whilst these con-
tinue to tear, decoct, and soften the sensual dominant
and make it more fit for the returning reason and un-
derstanding to work upon ; for it is brought to an ex-
tremity indeed, and made to feel the want of the light .
it had rejected. The light moreover elocritot ascend//7i^
bfliuiii carries with it a fermental odour of the body, ^
which by the divine Art also is so contrived in order
that the soul may not depart altogether into the re-
gion of nonentity. Thus Hermes — Take, my son, the
flying bird and drown it flying, then divide and cleanse
it from its filth which keeps it in death ; expel this and
put away all pollution, that it may live and answer thee,
not by flying away indeed but truly by forbearing to
fly.' And all the while, during this period of the se-
veration, a wonderful coction is described as going on;
the earth is overflown with waters^ the two great
lights are eclipsed, the air is darkened, and all things
are in confusion and disorderly relation, by reason of
the successive passion and prevalence of the vital
principles one over another; for the balance is so
maintained that they can neither be said properly to
die or live according to that descriptive Prosopopoeia of
the Stone.
Non ego coutinue morior dum spiritus exit.
Jam redit assidue quanivis et ssepe recedit
Et mihi nunc magna est anima, nunc nulla faeultas.
Plus ego sustinui quam corpus debuit unum,
Tres animas habui, quas omnes intus habebani,
Discessere dua\ scd Tertia po'iie secuta est, &c.
' Tract. Aur. cap. ii.
Experimental Method. 291
I am not dead although my spirit's gone,
For it returns, and is botli off and on,
Now I have life, now I have none ;
I suffered more than one coidd justly do,
Three souls I had, and all my own ; but two
Are fled ; the third had almost left me too.^
Unremitting care and attention are enjoined at this
critical juncture, lest either of the dissolute elements
should escape from its legitimate attraction, and the
property of the Spirit, which is as yet indifferent
to life or death, should by force of too strong afire, as
LuUy explains, be dissevered from the body, and the
soul thenceforth depart into the region of her own
sphere. And therefore he says, — Let the heavenly
power or agent be such in the place of generation,
or mutation, that it may alter the humidity from
its earthly complexion to a fine transparent form or
species.^ Uejir
But we are not !*§#©• proposing to exhibit the Prac-
tice, but only to understand it. Previous, therefore,
to the birth and fruits of spiritual increase, it may be
expedient briefly only to consider the intermediate
stages of the abyssal regeneration and contest of the
Metaphysical Embryo before it is born into the eaite ^P~<ui
ception ^ the eye of sense. Entering in for the
dissolution, adepts describe it indeed as the greatest
poison — a most potent, destroying, wilful ens of fire ;
for the contrary will of the whole dissolving life is
loosened by it, which acuates it exceedingly, the one
being natural and the other a fire against Nature ;
conjoining together, they make a conflagration more
fiercely consuming than any elemental flame ; and
being of equal origin, they prey upon each other
incombustibly, and by so much the more increasing as
1 Theat. Chem. Tom. iii. p. 764. Processus Chimica, Carmen
Elegans, v. x. and xi., Yaughan's Magia Adamica.
2 See his Theoria et Practica, and in the Testament, where lie
writes. Si cum igne magno operatus fueris proprietas nostri spi-
ritus, (S:c. ; and again, Ubi artista regidam singulavi diligentia ob-
servare debet, &c. Sal Lumen ; Nuysement, p. 133, &c.
u 2"
292 Laws and Conditions.
they draw together in might. And as the fable fur-
ther relates of the Egyptian monarch, that his hair
was suffered to grow whilst yet he tarried in Ethio])ia ;
so this fire is suffered to grow profusely, shooting
forth all his Satanic radiance in personality and act,
until the time of his mortification is ripe and ready
at hand. Adepts call him the Green Lion, Ty-
phon. Fire-drake ; or, during the mortification, he
is their venomous Black Toad ; for the newly roused
Efficient is exceeding wrathful, as we before hinted,
reducing the foreign body of Light, which is
Osiris, to a mere vapour, called by philosophers, on
account of its origin, the Four Wi}/ds, which, con-
densing together at the top of the vessel in form
of drops, runs down continually, day and night, with-
out ceasing.^ So Sendivogius, in that witty dis-
course of his, relates that Sal and Sulphur, meeting
together at a certain fountain, began to fight, and Sal
gave Sulphur a mortal wound, out of which wound,
instead of blood, came forth, as it were, most white
milk, and it became to be a great river. ^
For first the sun iu hys uprysing obscurate
Shall be, and passe the waters of Noa's flude,
On erth whych were a hundred days contiuuate
And fifty, away or all thys waters yode,
Rvght so on our waters, as wise men understode,
1 Shall pass : that thou, wyth David, may say
-//? ^yyy-Ci/)''^ / Abierunt in sicco flumin», &c.'^
This is commonly called the Gate of Putrefaction, and
its entrance is described as dark, with Cimmerian
windings, and continual terrification of the Spirit ;
but the cause of the dissolution appears to proceed
from the action of the vital heat stirred up artificially
within the blood, and which being so continuously tri-
turated, ignites and opens for itself a passage, endea-
vouring forthwith to absorb the circulating light by the
1 See Eipley, Second Gate, Of Solution, and in liipley Revived.
- N"ew Light of Alch. ; Discourse of Sulphur.
'^ Kipley's Fifth Gate, Of the Piitrofaction, v. 12.
Experimental Method. 293
efflux of its own abundant chloric spirit being trans-
fixed. And all this while it is that the powers of
the Philosophic Heaven are so wonderfully shaken and
defiled ; for, as the French adept phrases it, The two
dragons do bite one another very cruelly, and never
leave off from the time they have seized one another,
till by their slavering venom and mortal hurts they
are turned into a gory blood, and then, being decocted
totally in their own venom, are turned into a Fifth
Essence.
To Saturn, Mars w ith bond of love is tied,
Who is by him devoured of mighty force,
Whose spirit Saturn's body doth divide,
And both combining yield a Secret Source
From whence doth flow a Water wondrous bright,
In which the Sun doth set and lose his light. ^
There is a profound mystery couched in these light
words ; for as there was darkness upon the Abyss
when the Divine Spirit moved upon the Waters' face,
so in the hyperphysical work is it seen to be, when
the swifter current of the Infernal motive wheel sur-
mounts and eclipses the Divine Light in the circula-
tion. And, moreover, there is the tempter Evil of / . /_
the Son of Man made manifest, and^all^ reality the t>>^ / ds
original Sin with a more appalling possibility, to /
be met only by voluntary sacrifice and humiliation of
the Selfhood under the exemplary cross of Christ.
For is it not written, He shall overflow the channels,
and go over all the bmiks : and he shall pass through
Jiidali ; he shall overflow and go over, he shall reach
even to the neck ; and the stretching out of his wings
shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Emanuel ?^
There is, say the Alchemists, nothing of an unclean
nature that enters into the composition of the Stone,
except One thing, which is the Instrument moving
the gold to putrefy , and in this respect (for it is
^ Eireu^us, Marrow of Alchemy, book iii. v. 35.
^ Isaiah, chap. viii. ver. 8. See also the book of Jehior of the
Fire and its Mystery, chap. xi.
294 Laws and Conditions.
the very grave of the rational light) it is called by
them Typhon, Satan, Aquafoetida, Ignis Gehennae,
Mortis Immundities, &c. And because the philoso-
phers are obscure concerning this principle, lest
the rational inquirer should be led into troublesome
error by their sophistication, we are induced to dwell
rather and explain at length that, though impure in the
beginning, and manifestly evil, it is nevertheless a neces-
saiy ingredient, and when finally brought through the
natural Alembic, and returned, it constitutes the force
and integral perfection of the Divine Superstructure.
And although Sulphur and Mercury, says the Adept,
should be already described and known, yet without
Salt no man can attain to this Sacred Science.^ Hermes,
alluding to the same, says — The Dragon dwells in all
the threefold nature, and his houses are the darkness
and blackness that is in them ; and while this fume
remains they are not immortal. But take away the
cloud fi'om the water, the blackness from the sulphur,
and deatb from the feeces, and by dissolution thou
shalt obtain a triumphant gift, even that in and by
which the possessors live.^ And although Hermes
does not speak of it openly, because the root of this
Science is a deadly poison, yet I protest to you, says
Maria laconically, that when this poison is resolved
into a subtle water, it coagulates our Mercury into
most pure silver to all tests. ^ But whilst it remains
in the natural state, in the evil of its original concep-
tion, no good can come until it is overtaken and
resolved.
Then lyke as sowles after paynes of purgatory
Be brought into Paradyce, where ys joyful lyfe,
So sliall our stone after hys darknes in purgatory
Be purged, and joyned in elements without strj4e,
Eejoicing in the beauty and whytenes of his wyfe,
Arid pass fro' the darknes of purgatory to lyght
Of Paradyce, in whytenes Elixir of great niyght.
' Sendivogius, New Light ; Discourse of the Three Principles.
2 Tractatus Aureus, cap. ii.
' Maria, Practica, circa finem.
Experimental Method. 295
And like as yse to water dotli releut,
Whereof congealed it was by violence of greate cold,
When Phoebus yt smyteth wytli hys beams influent,
Eyght so to water minerall reduced ys our gold,
As wrytetb plainly Albert, Raymond and Arnolde,
Wyth heat and moisture by Crafte occasionate
Wyth congelation of the Spyrite.^
♦ 5j/ crafte occasionate , he says, because it is by the
attractive grace of the connate spirit that the self-
willed agent is finally seen to be subdued and betrayed
to self-mortification, as it were, by a conscience mov-
ing contrite in the Law of her Light : here, therefore,
Sol being eclipsed, the Lunar Vulcan acts a principal
part, as Isis in the Mysteries, where she is also called
Athena, to express that self-motion and intelligence
with which this Spirit is endowed. In like manner
they give to Typhon, in this predicament, the name of
Seth, Bebo, and like words, as Plutarch explains, im-
porting a certain violent, forcible restraint, contra-
riety, and subversion, all which Osiris, /. e. the Divine
Light, suffers in passing through the voluntary axle
in the regeneration ; but tempered by the benign
offices of Isis, hcy^is likewise gradually enthralled, and /v
the opposive principles are, througli her artful interces-
sion, finally reconciled, and remain together, circulating
with her in equilibriate accord.
Canst thou draw out Leviathan with an hook 1 or
his tongue with a cord which thou lettest downl
Canst thou put an hook into his nose ? or bore his jaw
through with a thorn 1 Will he make many supplica-
tions unto thee? Will he speak soft words unto
thee ? Will he make a covenant with thee ? Wilt
thou take him for a servant for ever? Wilt thou play
with him as with a bird 1 Wilt thou bind him for thy
maidens? Shall the companions make a banquet of
him ? Shall they part him among the merchants ?
Canst thou fill his skiji with barbed hooks, and his
head with fish spears? Lay 'thy Hand upon him,
REMEMBER THE BATTLE AND DO NO MORE. Bcliold,
1 Ripley's Fifth Gate, Of the Putrefaction.
296 Laws and Conditions.
the hope of him is in vain. Yet shall not one be cast
down even at the sight of him? None is so fierce
that dare stir him up : who then is able to stand
before me ? Who hath prevented me, that I should
I'tpay him? Whatsoever is made uudei^ the ivhole
heaven is mine. I will not conceal his parts nor his
comely proportion. Who can discover the face of his
garment^ or w^ho can come to him with his double
bridle ? Who can open the doors of his face, his
teeth are terrible round about. His scales are his
pride, shut up together as with a close seal. One is so
near to another, that no air can come between them.
They are joined one to another, they stick together,
that they cannot be sundered. By his neesings a light
doth shine, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the
morning. Out of his mouth go burning lamps, and
sparks of fire leap out. Out of his nostrils goeth
smoke, as out of a seething pot or cauldron. His breath
kindleth coals, and ^ flame goeth out of his mouth. In
his 7ieck remaineth strength, and sorrow is turned into
joy before him. The fakes of his flesh are frm in
themselves ; they cannot be moved. His heart is as
firm as a stone ; yea, as hard as a piece of the nether
millstone. When he r onset h up himself, the mighty
are afraid: by reason of the breakings they purify
themselves.^ The sword of him that layeth at hi/n
cannot hold : the spear, the da7^t, nor the habergeon.
He esteemeth iro?i as straw, and brass as rotten wood.
The arroiv cannot make him flee, sling stones are
turned with him into stubble. Darts are counted as
stubble : he laugheth at the shaking of a spear. Sharp
stones are under him : he spreadeth sharp pointed
things upon the ??ii?r. He maketh the deep to boil
like a pot : he maketh the sea like a pot of ointment.
He maketh a path to shuie after him ; one would
think the deep to be hoary. Upon earth there is not
his like, who is made without fear. He beholdeth all
1 See ]Maieri Atalauta Fugieiis, Emblema xi. Dealbate Lato-
natn et rumpitp libros, A p.
fA
0^
Experimental Method. 297
high things: he is a king over all the children of
Pride}
Much might be added, and innumerable similitudes y_
belongin^to this rebellious Principle and^that identical ^y ^
representative of him which the Divine Art requires,
in order that his stolen forces may be drawn forth
and spent in the sanguinary conflict which he provokes
in life. Just as in the Egyptian rehcs he is so fre-
quently seen depicted with all the emblems of grace
and power in human semblance, fiercely seated between
his circumventing foes. For the Orient Animal must
be stripped of his skin, not with arrows or clubs, but
with the Hand, as Adepts say ; the whole garment of
Light must be dissected, shorn, and the signal of victory
be heroically transferred. Animal de oriente pelle sua ^
leonina spoliari debet ejusque^evanescere atque turn a oiJ^(^
simul ingredi magnum oceani sc^mnjcumque pulchr^ — 7^/
tudine iterum egredi, &c.^ But we must proceed; ' '
giving only, by way of recreation, this Philalethean Lion
Hunt from Maiden in part, and the Cosmopolite Eire-
n^us.
^ HUNTING THE GEEENE LYON.
All hail to the noble compaBie
Of students in lioli Alkimie ;
AVliose noble practise doth them teach
To veil their art wyth mysty speech :
Moiight yt please your -svorshipfulnes,
To hear my idle soothfastnes,
Of that stronge practise I have seene
In hunting of the Lyon Greene,
"Whose color doubtless ys not soe
As that your wisdom well doe know ;
For no man lives that ere hath seene
Upon foure feet a lyon greene.
But our lyon wanting maturitie,
Is called greene for his unripenes trust me ;
And yet fuU quickly he can run
And soon can overtake the Sun ;
And suddenly can hym devoure
If they be both shut in one towere
And hym eclipse that was so brighte
And make thys red to turn to white
1 Job, chap. xli.
' Maieri Hierog. Egypt. Grsec. p. 222.
298 Laws and Conditions.
By virtue of his crudytie.
And unripe humors whych in hym be ;
And yet within hym he hath such heate
That wlien lie hath tlie Sun upeate,
He bringetli liyni to more pei't'ection
Than ere he had by Nature's only sanction.
Who then so'ere would win eternal fame
Must learn this Lyon Greene to tame.
But this before by Art he can attain
To study hym to know, he must be fain.
Nor ys it, trust me, for a stupid fule,
Nor yet for one brought up in vulgar schule :
I shall hym therefore lively out pourtray,
Least from thys banquet you go leane awav.
AYith mind attentive, to my words give heed,
Least you instead of meat on fancies feed :
This horrid beast, which we our Lyon call,
Hath many names, that uoe man shall
The truth perceive, unless that God direct
And on his darkened minde a Light reflect.
'Tis not because this subject doth consist
Of animal components (he that list
May well conceive) that we do therefore use
The name of beasts ; nor is it to abuse
The readers ; he whocA^er soe doth think,
"With stupid sots himself doth thereby link.
But it's because of the transcendant force
It hath ; and for the rawness of its source,
Of whych the lyke is nowhere to be seene,
That yt of us is named the Lyon Greene.
Now listen, and I shall to you disclose
The secret, whych tymes past hath, like a rose.
Been hedged so in on every side with briars.
That few could pluck yt at their heart's desires.
There is a substance of metalline race,
If you the matter view, whose louring face
A sophister would at first sight so scare,
That he yt to approach would never dare ;
The form that's visible is very vi\e,
And doth metallyne bodies so defile.
That none to see yt, could be brought to think
That thence shoidd spring bright Pha'bus' pearly druik ;
And yet, O strange ! a wonder to relate.
At this same spring naked Diana sat,
Who horned Acta'on for hys venturous peeping.
This spring two dreadful beasts have in their keeping
Whych drive away rash searchers to their woe,
Them to enchant, the Art who do not know.
Yet further, for to answer your desire,
1 say, this subject never felt the fire
Experimental Method. 299
Of sulphur metalline, but ys more crude
Than any minerall, which doth elude
The unwary, and in fire fugitive
'Tis found; th' impure away the pure doth drive,
And its components are a Mercury
Most pure, tho' tender, Avith a Sulphur dry
Incarcerate, which doth the flux retaine.
And as in shackles doth the same detaine.
This Sulphur with malignant qualities
Doth so the Mercury infect whych with yt lies,'
That tho' they have no fundamtsntal union,
Yet hereby is debarred the sweete communion,
Wliych otherwise would surely intercede
Between thys virgin nymph, which we call Leade,
And her dear sister, whych in silver streams
Euns down abundantly ; then should the beams
Of bright Apollo course the dews whych fall
From these commixed waters, from the tall
Aspiring mountain, gliding thro' the vales,
Fire to conceive of Nature, whych avails
To warm the bath for Sol, in whych he may
Descend and wash, and wj^th fair Phoebe play.
Till flesh and youth renewing, they be able
To shine wyth glory, aye multiplicable.
Know then this Subject, whych the base
Of all our secret ys, and it uncase ;
And choose what thou shalt finde of meanest price :
Leave sophisters, and following my advice.
Be not deluded ; for the truth is one,
'Tis not in many things, this is Our Stone :
At fii"st appearing in a garb defiled,
And, to deal plainly, it is Saturn's childe.
His price is meane, his venom very great
His constitution cold, devoid of heat.
Altho' 'tis mixed with a sulphur, yet
This sulphur is combustible ; to get
Another Sulphur metalline and pure.
And mix with the Mercurial parts be sure ;
This Sulphur in the house of Aries seek,
There shall you find it ; this will be the G-reek
Alcides, who with Jason journey took
To Colchos ; this it is whych never book
As yet revealed ; and yet I will proceede,
And greater mysteries unfold with speede.
Our Subject, it is no ways malleable.
It is metalline and its color sable,
"With intermixed argent, whych in veins
The sable field with glittering branches stains ;
The pure parts from the impure thou shalt never
With fire or common water here di.ssever,
300 Laws and Conditions.
Nor with the hardest iron dig it thence,
For steel, 'gainst this aftbrdeth no defence ;
So easily as any little boy
A giant can suppress, this can destroy
Alcides' breastplate, with his target stout,
And put opposing armies to the rout
Of swords and spears, O wondrous force ! and yet
The sages this have seen, when they did sit
In council, how this fiu'y they might tame,
Which (as unparalled) they then did name
Their Lyon Greene ; they suffered him to prey
On Cadmus Sociates ; and when the fray
Was over, they with Dian's charms hym tyed,
And made hym under waters to abide.
And washed hym cleane, and after gave hym icings,
To fly, much like a dragon, whose sharp springs
Of Fiery Water, th' only way iv as found
To cause Apollo his harp strings to sound.
This is the true npnphs' bath which we did search and try,
And proved to be the wise men's Mercury.
The evil of the Original Sin being overcome by so
many subtle stratagems, the New Life thence arises,
whose quintessential vu'tue, imperishable and perpe-
tually victorious, is the Corner Stone or first Material
foundation of the Hermetic Art : known, as the
adept says, only to the AVise, because they alone can
know it who have it in themselves. The irrational
and frivolous-minded cannot receive this truth, because
it depends exactly upon the knowledge of 7'^iat which
is most abstruse in them. The example given of
Cadmus, from the Greek fable, identifies him with
Jason, Orpheus, ^neas, and the rest, who represent
the Rational Ferment ; the associates are taken to sig-
nif}^ the other faculties of the mind originally at-
tendant on this, but which are drawn away afterwards
into the vortex of the Opposive Principle, rapidly
attracting them when it is freed, and, revelling with
which, it becomes satiated and more easily ensnared.
As it is told of Saturn, hkewise, that he was inebri-
ated when he was bound in fetters by his son ; and by
the advice of the goddess, too, according to Orpheus,
the subtle stratagem was contrived.
Experimental Method. 301
When stretched beneath the lofty oaks yon view
Satnm, with honey of the bees produced,
Sunk in ebriety ; fast bind the god.
For the Saturnian Will, being allowed to revel,
without limitation or rational restraint, throughout
the subordinate faculties, becomes intoxicated ; his
desires are more than satisfied, and, as the image runs,
from the effect he sleeps. It is then the watchful eye
of Intellect, well advised and able, prepares to cut him
off, and drawing forth all his brazen strength, plants it
in the newly-furrowed soil, whence springs another
armament, which, still rebellious, contending with
each other for the self-same Stone, are by it once more
annihilated and again raised up. So the Bath of
Diana is prepared out of the blood of many battles,
where the innocents suffer for the guilty, and many
barbarous images befall, until the Identical Spirit arises,
pure, bright, and contrite, from its primaeval element,
and free in legal subordination only to its own
perfect Law.
The matter first of metals Mercury
A moisture is which wetteth not the hand
Tet flows, and therefore is named water dry,
The vulgar is at every one's command.
But this is not the water we desire,
For in our water is our secret fire.
This Matter while its life it did retain,
Was apt all metals e'en to procreate,
The life when gone, then dead it doth remain
Till a new soul shall it reanimate.
This Matter is to metals all of kin
All which do hide a Mercury within.
He then who knows the parts of Mercury
And can its superfluities decrease,
And with true Sulphur it can vivify ;
For dead it is, though fluent, he with ease
May gold unlock and after recongeal
Both to an Essence which all griefs can heal.
Lo ! here a spring of wealth, a Tree of Life,
No wealth so great, no sickness here is rife,
Here in a map, thou seest the creatures all
Abridged, and reduced to their perfection.
Here thou beholdest in a Subject Small,
From this world's misery a fiill protection.
302 Laws and Conditions.
O Mercury, tliou wonder of the world !
How strange thy nature; is and how compact !
A body dost possess which doth enfold
A Spirit inexpressible to act,
Our mysteries ; this only we desire,
This is our water, this our secret fire.
For Argent Vive is gold essential
Only unripe, which, if thou canst prepare
By art, it gives the secret menstrual:
The mother of our Stone which is so rare.
Our oil, our unguent, and our marchasile;
Which we do name also our fountain bright.
O crystal fountain ! which with fourfold spring
Euns down the valleys with its pearly drops
DistiDing, with the which our noble king
Is washed and carried to the mountain tops.
Where he the virtue of the Heavens receives,
WTiich never after him, when fixed, leaves.
This is our May-dew which our earth doth move
To bring forth fruit, wdiich fruit is perfect gold :
This is our Eve, whom Adam doth so love.
That in her arms his soul, strange to be told,
He doth receive, who erst as dead was seen,
And quickened first appears in colours green.
How this ? Even thu-s, in Saturn there is hid
A soul immortal which in prison lies,
Untie its fetters, which do it forbid
To sight for to appeal", then shall arise
A Vapour shining, like pearl oi'ient,
Which is our Moon and sparkling Firmament.^
By such a vital and mysterious process is the
First Matter of the adepts said to be generated and
produced by an emancipation of the Fontal Source ;
and this is Diana, and that refulgent Light which
eclipses every other hght but that of its proper
Reason, and strikes the irrational intruder blind.
For she is the wholeness of the Fundamental Na-
ture at once personified, the knot and link of all
the elements of being, inferior as well as superior,
which she contains within herself — A Light more
splendid than the Sun and gold, and more beautiful
than the Moon or silver, and more diaphanous than
' Eiren^us, Marrow of Alchemv.
' /
Experimental Method. 303
the purest chrystal ; inasmuch transcendant, says the
acute Helv-etius/ that that most recreant Beauty can
never be blotted out from my mind, though it should
be rejected by all, and disbelieved by fools and the
illiterate. For though our Art is unknown, we do
assert, according to experience, that this mystery is to
be found ; but only with the great Jehovah saturninely
placed in the centre of the world. There, within most
intimately, the Abyss of the Spagiric artifice is dis- /
closed ; there, as in a crystalline diaphan|ty, the / ^-'*-^,
Miracle of the whole world. There, in that region, '
no longer fabulous but by art made natural, is seen
the Salamander casting out the etherial waters, and
washing himself in the flames ; there the river Numi-
tius, in which iEneas, bathing, was absolved from his
mortality, and by command of Venus was transformed
into an immortal god. There, also, is Eridanus and
that Lydian river Pactolus transmuted into gold as
soon as Mygdonian Midas had washed himself in the
same. Also, as in a beautifully pictured series, there
is displayed every mythological antique device ; Apollo
and the Muses, and Parnassus and the Fountain struck
from Pegasus, and the fountain of Narcissus, even
Scylla washing in the flood, beneath the fervent rays
of the meridian sunbeams ; there, too, the blood of
Pyramis and Thisbe, which turned the white mulber-
ries to a deeper die. The blood of Adonis transformed
by Venus into an anemone rose ; that blood, too, of
mighty Ajax, out of which sprang the fairest hya-
cynthine flower. There also are the drops of water
decocted by Medea, out of which such a verdure
sprang up suddenly to cover the bleached earth ; and
that potion which the enchantress boiled out of so
many herbs gathered three days before the full moon,
for the heahng of Jason, when that hero had grown
infirm. The gardens of the Hesperides, also, are in
Elysium ; and here Hippomanes runs the race with
Atalanta, and vanquishes by stratagem of the golden
fruit. Here, too, magnanimous Hercules, having
^ Yituliis Aureus.
304 Laws and Conditions.
burnt all his maternal body upon a pile of wood,
revives entire and incombustible, as the Phoenix on
her pyre, and is changed into the Hkeness of an im-
mortal god.
Such are a very few of the games and choice spec-
tacles which tradition commemorates as instituted by
Wisdom, for the benefit of souls emerging from Lethe
and Egyptian darkness to the glorious liberty of the
^ Freed Will in life. And it is that kindling of Divine
Cltl^ Its Ecstacy , in connection wi fliitft Source, that attracts the
whole phenomenon of nature to its desire, and works
the total miracle of the Hermetic Art in life, exalts
Mind by the understanding of Causes, and confirms it.
But in the summary language of the Greek saint (since
here it becomes us not to assert) : Know, says Sy-
nesius, that the Quintessence and hidden thing of our
Stone is nothing else than our viscous celestial and
glorious soul, drawn by our magistery out of its mine,
which engenders itself and brings itself forth, and that
Water is the most sharp vinegar, which makes gold to
be a pure spirit — nay, it is that Blessed Nature which
engenders all things ; but, by usurpation, in each par-
ticular universally and without return.
These plain words, supporting the evidence which
has gone before, will leave less doubt, if we yield them
credence, with respect to the method and true basis of
the Hermetic experiment ; reason, aided by a perspi-
cuous imagination, will attain readily to the idea, and
research may further assist the faithful to confirm it.
We cannot, however, quit a subject, the preliminaries
of which are so important to establish, without advert-
K, ing to certain (Jlabalistic and other Greek concordances,
~ in^hope that their separate witness may tell favourably
/ in OQticlusiorrTte this Material of Mind.
/ A
305
CHAPTER II.
A further Analysis of the Initial Principle, and its
Eduction into Light.
Dens, cum solus fuisset iu pi-incipio, creavit uiiam substantiam ;
lianc primam materiam. nominamus. — Mylius Phil. Reform, pars
vi. lib. 1. V / / /
THE philosophy of the JCabal, as dehvered in the
only genuine Hebrew remains and their commen-
taries, is eminently comprehensive and sublime ; and
these characteristics are mainly dependent on its very
great simplicity. All things therein are psychically
derived : and, according to the doctrine of an essen-
tial emanation, the whole physical universe is ex-
tended and corporified, as it were, by a multiplication
of the indeficient unit into its parts, under the intel-
ligible Law of its own proceeding Light. Into the
method of this philosophy, or the many beautiful par-
ticulars arising out of its material, space does not allow
us to enter ; they who are desirous may conveniently
examine for themselves, either in the Latin editions of
Rosenroth ;' or to begin with Franck's very excellent / n ^
history of the Cabal, which contains, besides numer- ku;vO~G{X£iJ(^
ous translated passages from the Hebrew, commen-
taries and notes, that we have read with no less in-
struction than dehght.^
The Initial Principle, however, which we have been
discussing, and to which it will be necessary to confine
inquiry for the present, is in the Zohar designated by
the name of Wisdom, or the Supreme Crown ; that is
to say, after it has become into manifest Being ; but
^ Kabbala Deuudata, seu Doctrina Hebraeorum Transcenden-
talis et Liber Zohar Eestitutus. Francf. 1684.
2 ];a Kabbale, ou Philosopliie Eeligieuse des Hebreux, par Ad.
-Franck. Paris, 1843.
306 Laws and Conditions.
in the Beginning, for reasons metaphysically expUeable,
the divine hypostasis is distinguished by the epithet of
Unknown, and described according to its negative ab-
soluteness, in the sum of two or three paragraphs, as
follows : —
All things before they became manifested were con-
cealed in the unknown and incomprehensible Infinite,
and this subsistence, whence all proceeded, was but as
an interrogation, an imperceptible sufficience, having
neither mind, nor figure, nor self-comprehension, or
Being, properly so called ; but when the Unknown
would manifest himself, he begins by producing a
point ; but, whilst the point of Light remains within
subjective and inseparate, he is unknown, and as the
Unity of things to be developed only by the Separation
of them in Himself: in this sense he is called the
Ancient of Days, the White Head, the Old Man^by
excellence, the Mystery of Mysteries, Which is before
all things — whose emanation is All.^ And thus the
hypostatic vision is more prominently delineated. He
is, says the Rabbi Ben Jochai, speaking of the same,
the Mystery of Mysteries, and most unknown of the
unknown ; yet he has a form or idiom which belongs
to him ; but, under this form by which he is seen, he
remains still unknoicn. His clothing is white, and his
aspect that of a countenance unveiled. . . . From his
head he shakes a dew which awakens the dead, and
brings them to new life ; wherefore, it is written. Thy
dew is the dew of light. It is this which nourishes the
most exalted saints, the manna which descends into
the field of sacred fruits ; the aspect of this dew is
white, as the diamond is white, the colour which con-
tains all.^
This white appearance of the primaeval splendour in
the abyss, is very constantly notified ; thus we read in
the Apocalypse, of the White Stone with the new
name written upon it ; and in the vision of the Son of
^ Zohar, part i. Franck's Translatiou, pp. 175, 185,
^ Zohar, part iii. fol. 12, 8 recto in Franck. p. 170.
&c.
Further Analysis. 307
Man, of the snowy whiteness of his glory, whose hair
was hke wool, and white as snow.^ And I beheld,
says the prophet in Enoch, the Ancient of Days,
whose head was like wool, &c.^ But these, and all
such like revelations will be esteemed fanciful or figu-
rative, perhaps, or arbitrary, since they are not com-
monly conceivable, and the worldly mind is shut out
from the imagination even of occult truth. They
only who have entered experimentally within to know
themselves, have been satisfactorily able to recognise
the ground ; and they only who are gifted with an ap-
proximating faith, to discriminate their universal testi-
mony from amongst so many fanatical delusions, will
be inclined, or able either, to advance to the contem-
plation of their proofs.
But to continue. As all colours in their prismatic
unison are white, just so is the Universal Nature, de-
scribed as appearing in the evolution of her Fontal
Light ; and Paracelsus gives it as a reason, that there
should be a simple ground of all diversity without
confusion whereon to recreate : — Omnia in Dei manu
alba sunt is ea tingit ut vult : — all things in the hand
of God are white, says the Magian, ^at He mes^ co-
loursthem according to His pleasure. Agreeably, the
author of the Liicerna Sails writes : — The matter will
become white like a hoary man, whose aged com-
plexion resembles ice ; it will also whiten more after-
wards, like silver. Govern your fire with a great deal
of care, and afterwards you shall see that hi your
vessel your matter will become white as snow. Then
is your elixir perfect as to the w^hite work. — This
agrees with the descriptions of Arnold, Lully, kxto^^uu^s
^M&, and the rest cited in the Theory, which, in the
original verse, runs thus : —
Acquiret canitiem viri senis,
Albicabitque fere ut argentum,
Sumin^ diligentia ignem rege
^ Eevelation of St. John, chap. i. v 14 ; ehap. ii. v. 17.
2 Book of Enooh, chap. xlvi. v. 1, &c.
X 2
308 Laws and Conditions.
/-€y Videbisque sequentj/fr materiain in vitro
' Albere omnino candore nivali
Et turn confectum est elixir ad album.'
The same Sendivogius, in his Ntw Light, calls the
Water of our Sea, the Water of Life, not wetting the
hands ; and believe me, he says, for T saw it with my
eyes, and felt it — that water was as white as snow.'^
And Eireneus, but we will not enlarge ; for is not
this the Matter already defined so often by the old
Alchemists, saying, it is no common water, but an
unctuous mineral vapour, universally subsisting ? Bo-
dies therefore, say they, are to be turned into such a
vapour, and this vapour is the Stone known and proven
in the Book of Life — Sumatur lapis in capitulis notus; —
Such is the subtle phrase of the Arabian ; and this
is the Matter every where alluded to, and so often
denoted in the Mysteries ; which in demoniacal
forms is at first in vision made apparent, nor
known until the eye of mind, regardant and pu-
rifying, meets its First source. For are we not all
verily, " such stufl' as dreams are made of? " Yet
the discovery of it is no dream, if we may believe the
experienced ; but, on the contrary, every phantastic
desire and imagination is alienated and merged in in-
telle 'tual contact of the Thing itself, which is our
Identity. This is the true Hermetic material, which is
celebrated by all his disciples ; that recommended by
Orpheus to be taken in the cave of Mercury, and car-
ried in both hands away ; and this is the power borne
by the Centaur Cheiron, the monster tutor of heroes,
cloud-begotten, sprung from out of the nebulous
impure ether, with a duplicate force, as it were, of a
Magnet armed to magnify and energize and prepare
the way, being the substance real, and promise of a
more perfect life to come. The same in Silenus is sa-
tirically personified the most venerable preceptor of
the God of Wine ; and this is Pan, and the foundation
of the great Saturnian Monarchy of the Freed Will,
' Lucenia Salis, p. 158. 12mo.
2 Philosophical Parable.
Further Analysis. 309
which was once circumscribed in Intellect, for the
manifestation of its Light.
This same, the Arabians call Flos Sails Alhi — the
Flower of White Salt, and thus the substant hypos-
tasis is said very truly to be designated ; and this is
the white sand, Qutilem, which Van Helmont speaks
of as manifesting itself forth in a vivid vital soil, which
spade or mattock never pierced.^ This is the true
magic earth wherein is the recreative fire, even that
" Land of Havilah, where good gold is ; " and this fire
binds the parts thereof spontaneously to himself, co-
agulates them, and stops their flux ; and this Salt is the
Water that wets not the hands ; and that identical Mag-
nesia that was exhibited in the Mysteries ; the White
Island of Vishnu ; the Lord of Radha ; the White
Paradise, which the author of the Round Toioers, with
an exclusiveness, pardonable for its enthusiasm, mis-
took for his Emerald Home.^
The Platonists have declared true Being to be white,
and all that Plato says, in FhcedOy about Tartarus is,
according to Olympiodorus, to be understood ethically
and physically : ethically, in that Tartarus is the place
of the soul's trial, where the balance of existence
is struck, and imperfections are made manifest ; phy-
sically, in that it is the luhoieness of txisteuce. And
what is written about rivers and seas by Plato, which
is ridiculous in an external sense, is to be psychically
understood, as when he says that the taste and colour
of these waters is according to the quality of the earth
through which it flows : this also indicates, adds our
exponent, that souls, in which reason does not preside
as a charioteer, are changed according to the subject
temperament of the body ; but when reason has the
dominion, the soul does not yield, but, contrariwise,
assimilates herself to the Supreme virtue.^ And her
first motion towards this from her ultimate artificial
' Oreatrike, cliap. ix.
2 See the Eound Towers of Ii-eland ; au estimable work, by li.
O'Brien, chap. xxii. p. 327.
^ See Taylor's Dissertation on Aristotle, book ii. p, 319.
XKcCt,
^
310 Laws and Conditions,
recessure is the true origin of matter, according to
these philosophers, and the primary cause of all, when
the generative virtue is drawn up into intellectual
alliance with the medial life and light.
In the third book of Reuchlin, De Arte Cabalistica,
we read, Nihil est in j)rincipio nisi Sapientia. — No-
thing is in the beginning but Wisdom, or Sapience. — It
is this which we are accustomed to call the Three
Persons in Divinity, the which is an Absolute Essetice,
wliieh, whilst it is retracted in the Abyss of darkness,
and rests still and quiet, or, as they say, having re-
spect to nothing, is for this cause termed by the
Hebrews, Ain, i. e to say. Nihil quoad }ius; nothing or
no entity as respects us. Because we, being affected
with inability in the conception, do judge and
imagine of those things which do not appear imme-
diately as if they were not at all. But when it has
showed itself forth to be somewhat indeed, and that it
does really in the human apprehension exist, then,
continues the (Jfabalist, is dark Aleph converted into
light Alcpli ; as it is written, The night shineth as the
day, the darkness and the light are all alike to Him ;
— Tenebrae sunt ei sicut ipsa lux.
Si tu, Deus meus, illuiniuaveris nie
Lux liuut teuebra^ mese.
So Paradise was opened in the Seer, and by that
kindling of Divine enthusiasm in conjunction with its
source, the soft lenient Light was created, which he
celebrates, and whence all things are said to emerge,
and whither they return ; but without our cognizance,
who arc chained to these exterior surfaces, content
with the bare tradition of a life to come. But in
that Place, whither he was snatched up, the prophet
describes them, and what he beheld of the Radical
Essence, and the manifold glories of that mystical
Adamic Soil. And this I beheld, says he, the secret
of Heaven and of Paradise according to its divisions,
and there my eyes beheld the secrets of the thunder
Further Analysis. 311
and lightning, and the secrets of the winds, how they
are distributed as they blow over the earth. The
secret of the winds and of the clouds ; there I per-
ceived the place whence they issue forth, and I became
saturated with the dust of the earth. There I saw the
woodtn receptacles (the vegetable or medial life), out of
which the winds became separated, and the receptacles
of the snow, and the cloud itself which continued over
the earth before the creation of the world}
This nebulous apparition of the Catholic Embryo ,
before its birth, some modern dJabalists have ex- /C
plained to be an absolute concentration of Divinity ^^"^
within its proper substance, i. e. of subject and object,
in their original identity ; which, as a cloud before the
falling shower, gives birth to the primitive Ether,
which is the pure attracting vacuum, or understanding
whereby the central efficient is drawn forth to will and
operation. Dionysius styles it caligo divina, because,
as he says, it is obscure and humanly incomprehen-
sible, though visible indeed. The author of the Lumen yy
de Lumine calls it, from the (pabalists, Tenebra: [y
activce, and describes it as beneath all degrees of
sense and imagination — a certain horrible, inexpressible
chasm. ^
Non-being which nor mind can see
Nor speech reveal ; since, as of Being void,
'Tis not the object of the mental eye ;
But there thy intellectual notions check
When in this path exploring.^
For its End is infinite ; as the Oracle forewarns, —
Stoop not down, for a precipice lies below in the earth ;
— it is nothing as respects the consciousness before it is
conceived ; nothing, as Dionysius adds, of those things
that are, or of those that are not, in an empty destruc-
tive sense ; but it i^ that only True Thing of which we
(^^r}^^e^
1 Book of Enoch, chap. xlvi. and xli.
2 Lumen de Lumine, the chapter on Matter, in init.
2 From the Fragments of Parmenides, given at the end of Tay-
lor's Dissertation on Aristotle.
/v
312 Laws and Conditions.
^ can affirm nothing, whose tlieology is negative ; but <<rfU(y^
CzT>^oUCocLejS ifmhtu iu the perfect possession of m the most happy-
life. Thus Bohme also declares — God, incomparably
good and great, out of nothing created 6omethi?ig, and
that something was made one thing in which all
things were contained, both celestial and terrestrial.
And this first something was a certain cloud or dark-
ness, which was condensed into water ; and this water
is that One Thing in which all things are contained.^
Now here we do not read either that all things
came of nothing absolutely, but that God of nothing
created something which was made that one thing in
which are all. And this One Thing appears to be no-
thing less or more than that Identity which is made in
^ the regeneration by the reprocedure into experience out
OJ\jiy}^ of the dissolute void of lif^artificially induced. As re-
spects the creature, therefore, it may be considered as
the first divine manifestation out of the abyss, when
the Spirit is brought forth into a new circulatory con-
fine, displaying its universal properties internally ac-
cording to the magnetic, virtue, action, and passion
of the Microcosmic Heaven. And there is in the Ce-
lestial Light, continues the same author, a Substance
like water which yet is no water, but such a spirit or
property . but it burns more like a kindred oil, and is
called by many the Tincture. And this Tincture is
the source of the material world, and gives to all
essences virtue to grow : it is also in all metals and
stones ; it causes silver and gold to grow, and without
it nothing could grow, but with it, all things: amongst
all the children of nature it only is a virgin, and has
never generated anything out of itself; neither can it
generate, yet it makes all things that are to be impreg-
nated : it is the most hidden thing, and also the most
manifest ; it is the friend of God and playfellow of vir-
tue ; it suffers itself to be detained of nothing and yet
it is in all things ; but if anything be done against the
right of nature, then it readily flies away : it con-
' Generation of tlic Three Principles.
Further Analysis. 313
tinues in no kind of decaying of anything, but abides
constantly with life. The way to it is very near, yet
no language can express it : nevertheless it ?neet6- them
that seek it a rig /it in its own way. It is powerful, yet
of itself does nothing ; when it goes out of a thing it
comes not into it again naturally, but it stays in its
ether. It is not God, but it is God's friend; for it
works not of itself It is in all things imperceptibly,
and yet it may u-ell be overpowered and used, especially
in metals : there it can of itself, being pure, make gold
of iron and copper, and make a little grow to be a
great deal. For it is the source of universal increase ;
its way is as subtle as the thoughts of man, and his
thoughts do even arise from thence. All things are
thence arisen throughthe Divine bnagi nation, and doj^et
stand in such a birth, station, and government. The
four elements have likewise such a ground or original ;
but the understanding and capacity is not in nature's
own ability without the Light of God ; but it is very
easy to be understood by those who are in the Light, to
them it is easy and plain } — I have myself seen this
knowledge, continues our author in another place,
with those eyes wherein life generates in me, for the
new man speculates into the midst of the astral birth
or geniture, and thus, he adds, in explication the me-
thod of his experience. — At last when, after much
Christian seeking and desire, and suffering of much re-
pulse, I resolved, he saj^s, rather to put my life to
utmost hazard than to give over and leave off; the
gate was opened to me, so that in one quarter of
an hour I saw and knew more than if I had been
many years at the University ; at which I did exceed-
ingly admire, and knew not how it happened to me ;
and, therefore, I turned my mind to praise God for it.
For I saw and knew the Being of beings, the Bysse, or
ground or original foundation ; and the Abysse, that is
without ground, or fathomless or void ; also the birth
or eternal generation of the Holy Trinity, the descent
1 See Bohme's A\rorks, vol. i. p. 97, 41 fol.
■^.^KClAyO-^aJc
314 Laws and Conditions.
and original of this world and of all creatures through
the Divine Wisdom, and I knew and saw in myself all
the Three Worlds : viz., tirst, the divine angelical, or
paradisaical ; and then the dark world, being the ori-
ginal of nature by the Fire ; and then thirdly, the
etci-mil and visible world, being a procreation or extern
birth or, as it were, a substance expressed or spoken
forth from the internal and spiritual worlds. And I
saw and knew the whole Being, and luorking essence in
the evil and in the good, and the mutual original and
existence of each of them ; and likewise how the
pregnant genetrix or fruitful bearing womb of eternity
brought forth, so that I did not only greatly wonder at it,
but did also exceedingly rejoice. Albeit, I could very
hardly apprehend the same in my external man, and
express it with my pen. I saw as in a great deep in
the Internal ; for I had a thorough view of the uni-
verse as in a chaos wherein all things are couched and
wrapped up, but it was impossible then for me to ex-
plain the same. Yet it opened itself in me from time
to time, as a young plant, and came forth into the
external principle of my mind. . . . And thus I have
written not from instruction or knowledge received from
men, nor from the study of books, but I have written
out of my own book which was opened in me, being
the noble similitude, the book of the most noble and
precious Image of God : and therein I have studied as
a child in the house of its mother, which beholdeth
what the father doth. I have no need of other books,
my book hath only three leaves, the same are the
Principles of Eternity. Therein I can find all whatso-
ever Moses and the Prophets, Christ and his Apostles
have taught and spoken. I can find therein the
foundation of the world and mysteries ; and yet not I
but the Spirit of God doeth it according to the mea-
sure as he pleaseth.^
y . // Here we have modern testimony agreeing in all par-
fCcxlrtJCo^^ ticulars with the most ancient Gdbal and profound ex-
perimental divinity ; nor this alone, but other favoured
' See Bbhme's Works, Turned Eye, in vol. ii.
Further Analysis. 315
individuals, amongst whom Van Helmont relates,
how by a mysterious hand he was led along into
a perception of the simple element of nature. — And
while I variously wandered that I might view the
Tree of Life, says the physician, at length with-
out the day and beyond the beginning of the night, I
saw, as in a dream, the whole face of the earth even
as it stood forsaken, and empty or void at the begin-
ning of the creation ; then afterwards, how it was,
while, as being fresh, it waxed on every side green with
its plants ; again, also, as it lay hidden under the Jiood.
For I saw all the species of plants to be kept under
the waters: yet presently after the flood, that they
did all enter into the way of interchanges enjoined to
them, which was to be continued by their species and
seeds, &c. For in the sky of our Archeeus, aspectual
Ideas are deciphered as well from the depth of the
starry heaven of the soul itself, as those formed by
the erring or implanted spirit of the seven bowels.^
Here in this sphere those mighty wonders are.
Which, as the sporting of the Deity,
Themselves display ; wonders indeed they are
Which do exceed man's comprehending far
Here 'tis that God himself t' himself displays,
From whence the sense arises up in joys,
A thousand things for aye arise,
Eternal waters and eternal skies. ^
Basil Valentine also, before proceeding to a descrip-
tion of the Philosophic Matter, opens his discourse fe c-j^^
^BS effect as follows : — When at a certain time an
abundance of thoughts, which my internal fervent
prayer to God suggested, had set me loose and wholly
free from terrene business, I purposed in myself to
attend to those spiritual inspirations of which we have
need for the more accu) ate scrutiny of nature. There-
fore I resolved to make myself wings, that I might
ascend on high and inspect the stars themselves, as
^ Oreatrike, chap. Ix. and xcvi.
2 Pordage, Mimdiim' Explicatio, p. 320.
316 Laws and Conditions.
Icaras and his father Diiedalus did in times past. But
when I soared too near the sun, my /cat// efs with its
vehement heat were consumed, and I fell headlong into
the depths of the sea. Yet to me, in this my extreme
tiecessity, invoking God, help was sent from heaven
which freed me from all peril and present destruction.
For one hastened to my assistance who commanded
the waters should be still ; and instantly in that deep
abyss appeared a most high mountain upon which at
length I ascended ; that I might examine whether, as
men affirmed, there was indeed any friendship and
familiarity between inferiors and 6«/;er/'or^^__ai4d-^^ie-
ther the superior stars ^. e. Ideee Divin^'^ Mentis] have
acquired strength and power from God, their Creator,
to produce any one thing lihe to themselves on earth.
And having searched into things, I found |}dz. in the
metaphysico-chemical analysi^ that whatsoever the
ancient masters had so many ages committed to writ-
ing and delivered to their disciples, ivas true as truth
itself. In very deed, that I may expound the matter
in a few words, I found all things which are generated
in the bowels of the mountains to be infused from the
superior stars as light, and to take their beginning
from them in the form of an aqueous cloud, fume, or
vapour : \y\\\c\v, for a long time fed and nourished, is at
length educted into a tangible form by the elements.
Moreover this vapour is dried, that the icateriness may
lose its dominion, and t\\Q Jire next by help of the air
retain the ruling power — of water, fire ; and of fire, air
and earth are produced ; which notwithstanding are
found in all things consisting of body before the sepa-
ration of them : but this water therefore containing all,
which by the dryness of its fire and air is formed into
earth, is thejirst matter of all things.'
In this allegory the wdiole metaphysico-chemical an-
alysis of the Universal Subject is displayed — the sepa-
ration, introspection and reunion of the vital elements
in their ethereal accord. And for this reason adepts
' J^. Valentine, 8toue of Fire, in init.
Further Analysis. 317
have concluded this Identic Salt to be the true grain,
since it cannot be annihilated, but survives the wreck of
the whole dissolute Being throughout — the seed not
only of this w^orld but of the next. For all things,
whether organized or otherwise, decay and pass away
into other elements ; but this mystical substance, this
root of the world, returning immediately upon the
dissolution of its parts, renews them ; nor will then be
quiet, but Proteus-like runs from one complexion of
light into another, from this colour to that, transmu-
ting himself before the regardant eye into a strange
variety of forms and appearances, exhibiting the uni-
versal phenomenon of nature in recreant display as he
runs forth from green to red and from red to black,
receding thenceforth into a million of colours and
transmigrating species.
/ Verum, ubi correptum manibus, vinclisque tenebis ;
'CSJ Turn vari^ illudent species, atque ora ferarimi -^
Fiet enim subito sus horridus, atraque tigris,
Squamosusque draco, et fulva cerrice leana : .._
Aut acrem flammse sonitiim dabit, )(ftque ita vinclia
Excidet, aut iu aquas teuues dilapsus abibit. /
Sed quanto ille magis forinas se vertet in ournife, /^'
Tanto, gnate, magis contende tenacia vincla.^ '
And when he has departed from the fi'agile laby-
rinth through which he was dispersed, says the adept,
and is moreover purified from every impurity, he
raises himself likewise into an infinity of forms : one
while into a vegetable, and then into a stone or into
some strange animal ; now he transmutes himself into
the sea, becoming to be a pearl, or a gem or a metal,
beautifully shining with red flames, and irridescent with
myriads of colours ; and thus he lives perpetually the
worker of miracles, an indefatigable magian, by no
means wearying in his labour but growing young ever-
more and increasing daily in vigorous display and
strength.^ And these miraculous alterations will not
^ Georgicor. lib. iv. 405.
2 Fama et Confessionis, K.C. Preface. Ubi vero spiritus ex-
cessit, &c.
rv
318 Laws and Conditions.
cease, as Democritus jtiktdtts, until the Matter has
worked out its own restitution and is brought by Art
into the supernatural fixity of its Final Cause ; and that
mode of binding is said to be best which makes use of
manacles and fetters ; as Hermes also says — The philo-
sophers chain up their matter with a strong chain or
band when they make it to contend with fire.^
Nam sine vi non uUa dabit prsecepta, neque ilium
Orando flectes : vim duram, et vincula capto
Tende. Doli circum h.-^^ demum frangentur inaiies.''^
To arrest this imaginative flux of freed vitality, we
may well conceive that it needs the whole volun-
tary force of the central magnet ; and that this alone,
which is its proper reason, can compel it to repose.
^b Reuchlin, concerning the two cathohc natures con-
V . /^ . tainedinthe mirific Word, alludesy^saying: — One nature
'^ ^ is such that it may be seen with the eyes, felt with
the hands, and is subject to alteration almost at every
moment : you must pardon, as Apuleius says, the
strange expression, because it makes for the obscurity
of the thing. This very nature, since she may not
continue one and the same, is accordingly apprehended
of the mind under such her qualification more rightly
A TxM^ ^s she is^than as she is oat ; namely, as the thing is in
truth, that is, changeable : the othei^ nature or prin-
cipiating substance is incorruptible, immutable, and
always subsistent.^
And this, adds an ancient and much esteemed
Adeptiit,^is the work which I have sometimes seen
with a singular and most dear friend ; who showed
me certain large furnaces, and those crotvned with
cornues of glass. The vessels were several ; having,
besides their tripods, their sediments or caskets ; and
within was a holy oblation or present, dedicated to
the Ternary. But why should I any longer conceal
• Tract. Aur. cap. iv.
2 Georgio. lib. iv. 397.
^ Eoucblin de Ycrbo Mirifico. And in the Crelnm Terriip of
Vaughan. /
C^
Further Analysis. 319
so divine a thing? Within this fabric, {i. e., the con-
secrated vessel), was a certain mass moving circularly,
or driven round about, and representing the very
figure of the great world. For here the earth was to
be seen standing of itself in the middest of all, com-
passed about ivith most clear waters, rising up to
several hillocks and craggy rocks, and bearing many
sorts of fruit, as if it had been watered with showers
from the moist air. It seemed also to be very fruitful
oiwine, oil, and milk, with all kinds of precious stoties
and metals. The waters themselves, like those of the
sea, were full of a certain transparent salt — now white,
now red, then yellow and purpled, and, as it were,
chamletted with various colours, which swelled up to
the face of the waters. All things were actuated
with their own appropriate fire ; but in very truth
imperceptible as yet, and ethereal. But one thing
above the rest forced me to an incredible admiration,
namely, that so many things, and diverse in kind, and
of such perfect particulars, should proceed from one
only thing ; and that, with very small assistance :
which being strengthened and furthered by degrees,
the artist faithfully affirmed to me that all those di-
versities would settle at last into one body. Here I
observed that fusil kind of salt to be not different
from pumice stone, and that quicksilver, which au-
thors call mercury, to be the same with Lully's
Lunaria, whose water gets up against the fire of
nature, and shines by night, but by day has a glu-
tinous, viscous faculty.^
Here we have the whole Hermetic laboratory —
furnace, fire, matter, and vessels, with their mys-
terious germinations, subtly depicted and set apart.
For this clarified hypostatis, (shall we not believe in
^ See, in Lumen de Lumine, the Extract, p. 69. Also, the
Parable of Sendivogius, and Paracelsus' s account of the magical
separation of the Elements, and vision, in their native place. Hel-
mont's Imago Mentis, in the beginning; and his Tree of Life.
Genesis ii., Deut. viii., xi., &c. ; and, in Exodus, Moses's Descrip-
tion of the Promised Land. Job xxviii., &c.
320 Laws and Conditions.
it?) is the stage of all Forms, and here they are spon-
taneously produced, not in mere imagination, or as
we miglit conceive imaginatively, oi', as in a dream,
shadowly ; but as the true Genesis of Light.
Haec dedit Argenti Kivos, Aerisque metalla
Ostendit venis, atque auro plurima fluxit
Hsec genus aere virum ; Marsos Pubeuique Sabella
Assuetumque ; Malo Ligurem volcosque verutos
Extvdit ; Hsec Decios Marios, maguosque Camillos ;
Salve Magna Parens frugum 8aturnia Tellus
Magna viiaim !
And though these images, with the rest, may ap-
pear extravagant, and Virgil refers all the compliment
to his native soil ; yet the truth, gathering strength by
detail, may plead through the whole accord. Such
are a few only of the remarkable declarations of in-
dividuals who, by an experimental ingress, as they
acknowledge, to the Vital Radix, have discovered the
catholic original of nature, intellectual and material,
with the ground of every phenomenon, through the
arising spectacle of the Creative Majesty within them-
selves. Alany might be added of good repute and
accordant ; but numbers would not ensure more cre-
dence for them, who ought, on their own authority,
to be believed ; and have been and will be always by
those who are able to glance freely, without ima-
ginative hinderance, into the capability of mind ; and,
by analogy of their own clear reason, can judge of
that fontal revelation which, when entertained in con-
sciousness, becomes efficient, and, in its simultaneous /
energy, divine. Hence, they will perceive, -rmrl from i^-^
no idle dreaming, the conviction of those sublimated
souls arose, who were not alone superior to the dicta-
tion of folly, but were freed moreover from the liabi-
lity to error which besets ordinary minds : for they
had passed the turbulent delusions, not of sense only
but of the selfhood, and having combated every
sinister disguise in opposition, were proved and re-
proved, previous to being admitted to the apperceptive
vision of the Causal Truth which they describe, when
Further Analysis. 321
Light meeting Light, apprehends itself alone; and de-
velops the triple mystery of its creative Law through-
out, from the infernal motive wheel which is the origin
of the mineral kingdom, through the whole inter-
mediate paradisiacal vegetable growth, up to the final
concord of the Divine Image in man. For as Life
passes through the philosophic fermentation, its sub-
stance is entirely transmuted, and the threefold pro-
perty is developed, with a dividing of the heterogeneous
parts, by an extinguishing of the forms and properties
of the Medial Spirit. And not only is it resolved into
these three principles, which Van tielmont also calls
Salt, Sulphur, and Mercury, but there is a procedure
towards a radical destruction, almost annihilating the
components of the former life, which at length, in its
extreme exigence, draws a new seed to begin a New
Generation. — And this is the way of the recedure to the
Night of Hippocrates, leading thenceforth into the Day
of Orpheus.
It is not a little remarkable that the same ideas,
even to their expression, are to be found in the meta- ,
physics of modern Germany as in the (|^abalistic com- rC'
mentators and mystics of the middle ages. Yet the ^^
surprise which this might otherwise awake is dimi-
nished, when we consider the universat characteristic of
Reason ; whence it happens accountably that, that
truth which common logic arrives at by abstraction 3i__^^L
an inferential necessity, is the same which the Rabbifs^ ^-^
ontologically experimenting, and guided by the same
Law, affirm out of their own more proving observation
and experience. And thus we may illustrate the point.
All things, says the German philosopher (Hegel),
have their commencement in pare Being, which is
merely an indeterminate tlwught, simple and imme-
diate ; for the true commencement can be nothing
else : but this pure Being is no other than a pure ab-
straction, it is a term absolutely negative, which may
also in its immediate conception be called non Being}
1 Das reiue Seyn macHt den Anfang, weil es so wohl reiuer
K
322 Laws and Conditions.
Such is the conclusion rationally arrived at by sen-
sible abstraction ; Kant, Fichte, but more especially
Schclling whose intellectual penetration appears to
have passed beyond these two, carried metaphysics
into the same void non-entity at last. Hence the scep-
tical result of their transcendental labours, which, too
far surpassing sense and its phenomena to accept their
proof, stopped short nevertheless of objective realization
on their own ground ; there being arrested, faithful and
as it were in view, without a means of passage to the
promised shore. Yet so it is, that very hypostasis which
bounds reason in transcendental abstraction, when
met by contact of the inquiring light within, is that
Absolute Identity which it seeks after, which, before
all duality of consciousness, is the fortitude and life of
all. But let us revert to the learned Rabbi's advice
concerning the true nature of Divine Inversion ; for
Ben Jochai and his disciples also affirm that God
created all things out of nothing, and this not du-
biously, sed quasi auctoritatem habens ; but in what
sense this nothing is to be understood, we are thus, dif-
ferently than by the German, informed.
When the f abalists affirm that all things are
drawn forth from nothing, they do not intend, says
the Rabbi, from nothing in the common-sense ac-
ceptation of that word ; for Being could never be pro-
duced from non Being (deficiently understood), but by
non Being they mean that which is neither conceiv-
able as cause nor as essence, but yet is in fact the
Cause of causes : it is that which we call the primitive
non Being ; because it is anterior to the universe : and
by it we do not signify corporeity either, but that
Principle or Wisdom on which it is founded. Now if
any one should ask what is the essence of Wisdom,
gedanke, als das unbestimmte einfache unmittelbare ist, der
erste Anfang. Aber niclits vermitteltes und weiter bestimmtes
seyn kann. Dieses reine seyu ist nun die reine abstraction,
damit das absolut negative welcbes gleicliftills unmittelbar genom-
men das niclits ist. — Encyclopedic des Sciences Phil. 86 et 87.
See M. Franck's observations on this point, and La Kabbale, p.
187, &c.
Further Analysis. 323
and in what manner she is contained in non Being, no
one can reply to this question : becaast in non Be-
ing, there is no distinction (as of subject and object in
the consciousness by which it can be truly said to be
known) , no mode of true existence ; neither can we,
therefore, comprehend, so to say, how Wisdom be-
comes united to life.^
Now this doctrine is precisely in accordance with
the Hermetic philosophy, and these definitions of the
primitive non-being, perfectly correspond with the
Platonic theology, and Aristotle's discourses concern-
ing the origin of things and incomprehensible nature
of the objective contact in Identity. And as to the
dogmas of the rest, as of Thales, Pythagoras, Anaxa-
goras, Parmenides, Empedocles, and others, which
men have been accustomed neglectfully to run over ;
it may not be amiss, as Lord Bacon advises, to cast
our eyes with more reverence upon them.^ For, al-
though Aristotle, after the manner of the Ottomans,
thought he could not well reign unless he made away
with all his brethren ; yet, to those who seriously pro-
pose to themselves the inquiry after truth, it may not
be displeasing to regard the positions of those various
sages, touching the nature of things and their founda-
tion. Nor ought we, in this our state of inconceptive
ignorance, to conclude, as many have done, that these
men spoke ill, or arbitrarily, imagining causes whereof
to make a world, for it was not so : their elements,
atoms, numbers, mathematics, physics, and metaphy-
sics, or by whatever names their principiating ideas
were distinguished — all their philosophy, in short, was
confessedly established, and belonged to an experience
and method of observation, to the profane multitude
unknown. For they discovered, and have asserted,
without arrogance or sophistication, that there are
methods by which an ascent may be effected from the
oblivious bondage of this existence, and, through a
1 See La Kabbale, p. 214. Comment. Abram ben Dior on the
Zephir Jezirah, p. 67, &c.
^ Adv, of Learning, lib. iii. sec. 5.
Y 2
324 Laws and Conditions.
gradual assimilation, to a survey more or less imme-
diate of the Causal Source.
And thus, neglectful though it has seemed in ge-
neral of facts, and common-sense observation, these
Greeks too derived nature mediately from a certain
Intellect in energy, but without distinction, fixing her
true Being in the Law of Universals. Those even who
appear to differ, as for example, Thales, and the phy-
siologist Empedocles — substituting elements as prin-
^ ciples, do so in the choice of expression chiefly, and in
the manner of regarding ; for the substance alluded to
by them all is the same ; as we may judge by their
definitions, which agree not with any material of ele-
ments, or intellect, or atoms, that we discern or un-
derstand at all ; but they speak, as before said, out
C (I of another perception of things, exhibiting the phe-
^^(Jit^^oi^'^ nomena of the .THiprr^tnntinl world. It may not be
improper here to delay a short time, in order to point
out to the more studious, how it happens, that so many
mistakes have arisen about their doctrine, and that
language apparently divergent, may, nevertheless, har-
monize at its source.
For that these philosophers have discoursed vari-
^OLA^(y>\a ^' ously, is very certain; some^indecd of the Initial
^ (J Principle, mtrHg. that it is one and finite, others infi-
nite ; some, as Heraclitus, according to essence, have
denominated it to ho, fire ; another, as Thales, looking
to the first material manifestation, teaches that all y-
beings have their beginning from luater ; whilst T^mGac, ^^^
with no less reason or authority, mentions a certain ^
earth as antecedent, and the most ancient element ;
but Anaxagoras, rather regarding the perfection and
origin of the One Thing in consciousness, calls it In-
tellect ; as Plato, likewise, in the Parmeiude.s, derives
all things transcendentally, proving the perpetuity of
Being in itself. But whilst these celebrate Mind as
precedential, and those desire to indicate the subsist-
ence of Matter, in either case it is the same ; for the
mind is not without the matter (the universal element
we mean), nor that matter without the mind ; but all
Further Analysis. 325
things, however various in manifestation, are consub-
stantial in their Cause.
And with respect to the number of principles and
elementary transmutations, we may plainly perceive
that it is not the common elements, or abstracts either,
they contend about ; but their investigation concerned
the prior Elements of Life ; which some, openly distin-
guishing, call the Celestial Elements ; as Plato, in
PhcEclo, speaking of earth, for instance, calls it the
most and tut element ivithin the heaven; and Proclus
informs us what we are to understand by the heaven ;
— Heaven, he says, is the intellectual contact with the
intelligible, for there is an intelligible which may be
conjoined to intellect, and is its true end. ^ But this is
in allusion to the highest sphere of ethereality, which
Aristotle triply distinguishes, first, as the essence of the
ultimate circulation of the universe ; second, as that
which is in continuity with it ; and third, as that body
which is comprehended by the last circulation. For,
says he, we are accustomed likewise to call that
heaven, which is composed from every natural
and sensible body.^ That is the arising Spirit of
the Universal Nature which, persisting separately,
bounds as it were, by an invisible summit, every cor-
poreal subsistence, and in the conscious alliance only
becomes known. The same is called by Hermes, a
Quintessence ; and the Hermetic philosophers, speak-
ing of their earth, locate it even as Plato does, within
their heaven ; and in order to distinguish from the fe-
culent dead soil, call it magical, the Earth of the Wise,
Olympus, Our Earth, &c., and of the other elements
the same, as we have shown already in our Exoteric
Theory, and elsewhere. Which the initiated poet, in his
Aletamnrphoses, neither unaptly signalizes in the arising
circulation of Nature from the four concentering winds.
Hsec super imposuit liquidam et gravitate carentem,
TEthera, Bon quicquam terrense fa^cis habentem.^
But Plato yet more plainly alluding to the Ethereal
1 On tlie Theology of Plato, pp. 236, 240, &c.
2 See his Treatise on the Heavens, book i.
^ Ovidii Metam. lib. i. 67.
326 Laws and Conditions.
Quintessence, in Timceus, says, that of four elements
the Demiurgus assumed One Whole from each, and that,
by a reasoning process, he constituted the world 0)ie
Whole from wholes, in all things perfect and free from
old age and disease} As Aristotle again, where he
says, that the world, being composed from all sensible
matter, is one alone and perfect; cannot mean this
world, which is neither uniform nor free from age or
disease, or perfect in any way ; what other, therefore,
should they either mean but the ethereal ; which art
once taught them to segregate, and estabhsh upon the
ruins of this mortal and dislocated existence ?
That Euipedocles likewise taught a twofold order of
natural procedure — the one intelligible, and the other
sensible ; — deriving the latter as an image from the for-
mer as an exemplar, is evident, from the whole tenor
of his Physics For he identifies all things in respect of
their source ; making elements there to subsist as quali-
tative virtues, which, multiplying into being, become
distributive powers, of which the sensible elements
and this world are the remote subjects and emanation ;
contrariwise, also, receding from eftect to cause, he
shows how the universal frame is borne along in per-
petual interchange.
How many things to one their being owe,
Pire, water, earth and air immensely high,
And each with equal power is found endued,
And friendship equalized in length and breadth.
All things in union now thro' love conspire,
And now thro' strife divulscd are borne along,
Hence, when again emerging into light.
The One is seen, 't is from the many formed.
All mortals too, so far as they are born,
OY 2)ermanent duration are deprived ;
But, as diversified with endless change.
Thro' this unmoved for ever they remain,
Like a sphere rolling round its centre finn.^
Anaxagoras, and certain others of the early Greek
^ Proclus on the Theology- of Plato, book v. p. 365.
2 Empedocles, Physics, cap. i.
Further Analysis. 327
school, alluding to this absolute subsistence of things,
assert, that matter likewise is the progeiiy of mind ;
and the Alexandrians go so far as to explain the man-
ner of its descent and efflux ; as if they too in aUiance
had known these things, and by analogy, through
their own, the structure of the universe ; observing so
many fine distinctions and such a subtlety of onto-
logical operation as was extremely difficult to deline-
ate by words, or consistently in writing to unfold.
Many, therefore, adopted fables, symbols, similitudes,
enigmas, and the licence of poetry they also called in
aid, as well on this account, as to veil their meaning
from vulgar misprision and debate. But Aristotle
preferred an abstruse style of diction to every other
disguise, that he might be comprehensible to the pro-
found only ; as, when writing to Alexander about the
publication of his Acraomatic Ethics, he avows that
none but his own pupils would be able to understand
them.^
And with respect to those strictures on the writ-
ings of his predecessors, we are disposed to take
them in a particular application only ; his most erudite
translator, Thomas Taylor, having also shown that
their reference has been alienated and widely misunder-
stood. The Aristotelian philosophy is built on simi-
lar grounds, and arrives at the same conclusions as
those whom it rebukes ; but the method is different,
and herein the Stagyrite lays claim to superiority,
rather than by professing any new basis of argument
or superior knowledge. The differences that arose in
philosophy owing to men regarding the same nature
from diverse points of view, and the contradictions
that occur in language, offended his accurate genius ;
and he was desirous that they should harmonize in the
expression of that truth in which they, by co-know-
ledge, were agreed. That whereas, for instance, Pytha-
goras would explain essence in number and define it
by mathematical reasons, as Plato by Ideas, mingling
^ See the Commentary of Simplicius in Plutarcli'a Life of Aris-
totle, and the note, p. 4, to Taylor's Dissertation.
328 Laws and Conditions.
these with geometric symbols ; Parmenides and
others, by atoms, elements, and by so many various
ways ; he complains that they deliver nothing clearly,
nor carry their principles duly and comprehensively
through their whole system ; but shift from one asser-
tion to another, that is apparently, varying their speech.
Thus, in the beginning of his JMetaphijsics, — There are
some, he says, who have discoursed about the universe
as if it were indeed one nature ; yet all of them have
not discoursed after the same manner, neither of that
which subsists beautifully {i. e. intelligibly), nor of
that which subsists according to nature. By no means
therefore does their discourse harmonize in the sjdccu-
lation of causes. For they do not speak like certain
physiologists who, supposing Being to be one, at the
same time generate the One fi'om matter : but their
assertions are of a different nature ; for the physiolo-
gists who contend that Being is one, when they generate
the universe, at the same time add motion ; but these
men assert that the universe is immovable. Thus,
Parmenides appears to have touched upon the One
according to Reason; butMelissus, according to Matter;
heiice the former asserts that the universe is finite ;
but the latter that it is infinite. But Xenophanes,
who was the first that introduced this doctrine, did
not assert anything clearly, nor does he appear to have
apprehended the nature of either of these ; but look-
ing to the whole heaven, he says, the One is God.
These men therefore are to be dismissed, two of them
indeed as being a little too rustic, — viz., Xenophanes
and Melissus, but Parmenides appears to have seen
more than these where to speak. ^
Such like defect of method and incorrectness of
diction does the Stagyrite complain of, sparing none
of his predecessors ; but his opposition is uniformly
directed to the letter rather than to the spirit of their
doctrine ; for he was strenuous in asserting the caus-
ality of mind, and praises those as in the highest degree
gifted who perceived this; in his ]\Ietaphiisicfii\\YO\\^\\-
' ]Metaphysics, sub init.
Further Analysis. 329
out, evincing a magnificent appreciation of the Intellec-
tual ground. But he was desirous, as we have said,
to methodize philosophy ; and accordingly undertook,
by establishing a system of universal logic, to correct
the imperfection of common thought and speech. The
design was noble, and carried out to the original inten-
tion and on its own intimate basis, was no doubt
valuable to fix experiment and assist in defining and
unfolding, by means of the categories, as by a conge-
nial channel, the birtli of the Divine Intellect into life
and manifestation.
That was the syllogism so important to be sought
after, which also is according to Aristotle the true
object of philosophy ; in the universal terms of which
every other science is implicated, and without which
nothing permanent is said to be endued. When, losing
this substantial ground and aim therefore, the Orgauon
began to work upon itself, it grew weak and wore out
gradually, as Bacon observed it in his day becoming
worse than useless, since it occupied an intellect that
might have been better employed, and substituted for
truth the least salutary kind of satisfaction in the dis-
play of scholastic subtlety and aimless dispute.
The same has happened with the Pythagoric num-
bers, and those mathematics which had all their original
keystone in the Arch of Heaven ; or how else should
numbers have been established as the causes of things
if they had not been allied in idea to something better
than themselves ? All things naturally produce their
similars, numbers beget numbers, letters and words
constitute phrases, and lines superficial forms only.
They may, by composition, be made, in their way, to
represent the degrees and kinds of things ; but this is
the utmost of their abstract capability. They cannot
produce themselves, or anything else, into substantive
appearance. We may exhaust all their combinations,
divide, add up, and multiply figures to infinity, we
shall have figures and nothing more ; nothing solid,
long, short, or square, not the smallest grain of sand
without the Efficient which is in all.
This being obvious therefore, we judge that when
330 Laws and Conditions.
the ancients established numbers as the causes of
things and derived from them the gods themselves,
with all their hosts of power and material depen-
dencies, they had some very different idea at-
tached from that which modern theorems or their
probations supply. Or shall it be believed that
Pythagoras was so wanton and vain-glorious as to
sacrifice a hecatomb, when he discovered that the
subtendent of a right-angled triangle is equivalent to
those parts which contain it ; or that Thales, when,
as is related, he did something of the same kind about
the inscription of the circle, gained nothing more than
a fiat demonstration for his pains ? Or are not rather
the hecatomb, and the theorem separately symbolical,
and alike relating to the discovery of that miraculous
Psychical Quintessence, known to the wise as the
Tincture of the Sapphiric Mine which, being in its own
threefold segregated essentiality equal to the whole
dissolute compound whence it arises, casts off" the
superfluity, sacrificing the old nature to begin anew?
Charon does not ply the Stygian Lake without a re-
compense, neither are the secrets of the highest causes
approached without a mean of expiation ; but the
vicarious dedication of huge beasts, will not avail
whilst their Prototypes remain feeding and fattening
in the Philosophic Field.
The habit of exhibiting points of abstruse philoso-
phy by mathematical reasons, has been general in
every age ; but in order to derive from them or fi'om
numbers anything substantive, it is necessary that
the point or unit should be established as something
absolute ; that every dependent partaking, whether
multiplied, added, or dixaded amongst each other, may
be essentialized in the same. Hence Zeno said (of
Elea, not the Stoic) that if any one should undertake
to demonstrate the philosopher's Unit, he would unfold
Being. For the One of these philosophers is the Foun-
tain of all Being; and just as there is a descent from
unity into multitude, and all that multitude is implied
in the One ; and this furthermore fills all and each of
its dependent multitude — as one is in two, and two in
Further Analysts. 331
three, and three in four, and four in five — and still
that unit, which is in the beginning, is implied in all
and is in all ideally ; so is each Being said to be implied
in all and all in each, and every part of each in all,
from the equilibriate eternal centre to its infinite
extremes. And as the smallest fragment of the load-
stone remains perfect in two poles, and each particular
spark of fire contains the principle and developing
force of the entire kindred element, so may we not
conceive every portion of existence to be continent
and comprehended proportionally of the Great Whole ?
All those amongst the Greeks who have written
concerning this Whole, and who appear to have arrived
at an experimental conception of its reality in the self-
knowledge, unanimously assert that it is simple, and
not so much therefore an object of reason as of contact
and intuition. They contend moreover, with the Al-
chemist, that there is a certain pure matter subsisting
about InteUigibles which is universal, and the proved
origin of every vital and corporeal existence ; that
though occult in nature, it can be made manifest to
sense even, and exhibited in divine and practical
effects. But it was forbidden by the mandate of the
Mysteries that their revelation should be communicated
to the profane ; and the modern Alchemists are, with
few exceptions, silent respecting the metaphysics of
their Art ; the Neoplatonists were, however, more
communicative, since, forbearing direct allusion to
the Practice, they feared less to speak of Principles
and the procedure of mind. Their writings appear
indeed as so many auxiliaries to the perception of
ontological causes, and their reasonings and images
are admirably adapted to stimulate that faith which,
dormant as we now are in the corporeal darkness,
glows notwithstanding responsive to the truth within.
If we desire to investigate principles and the highest
causes, let us inquire now therefore of them briefly,
how we may begin to learn ; and concerning this -le- At-cA.c/
teHtgible Matter whether it is, what it is, and after '
what manner it ought to be conceived of, what the
332 Laws and Conditions.
perception of it resembles, and what relation it bears
in general to the reasoning power, and finally how it
comes forth out of the Causal fountain to be in effect ?
The following summary gathered from the scientific
conduct of Plotinus and Porphyry may not be unac-
ceptable to the philosophically inquisitive reader.
That it is necessary there should be a certain Sub-
ject of bodies which is different from them, is suffi-
ciently evinced by the continual mutation of corporeal
quantities ; for nothing that is transmuted is entirely
destroyed ; since if such were the case there would be
a certain essence dissolved into nonentity; and this
persisting, there would be no remaining ground of
generation. But change arises, indeed, from the depar-
ture of one quahty and the accession of another ; the
subject-matter however — that which receives the forms
and reflects them — always remaining the same and
proceeding and receding continually into itself.
This therefore Corruption manifests (especially the
artificial), for corruption is of that which is composite,
and so each sensible thing is made to consist of matter
and form and their union in corporeity. This too In-
duction testifies, demonstrating that the thing which
is corruptible is composite. Analysis likewise evinces
Ci/r\^ CA^crr^ ^^^ same thing, as if for example ^^^ pot should be
resolved into gold, but gold into water; and the water,
being incorruptible, will require no analogous process.^
* Here Plotinus doubtless makes an allusion to the mystical
analysis ; drawing his comparison also fi-om tlience. For by no
other analysis either is a pot resolved into gold, or gold into a
water which is indissoluble. But what he says is perfectly con-
formable to the Hermetic doctrine, both in an internal and in an
external sense ; for, by a reducation of the iron spirit in the blood,
it becomes cleansed from its foreign oxide and aurified — that is,
illuminated by contrariation of its I'orm. Tlie radical moisture of
tlic metal likewise, obeying the fcrmentive virtue of such a test when
applied, may be made to pass away, as the tradition runs, from
its own Foi'm into that which is more integral and perfect. All
tilings may be reduced to gold according to this doctrine, as Al-
bcrtus ]Magnus in his book T)e Mineralihus asserts, and where also
he is cited by Be<^cher in his Plujsica Svbterranea, p. 319 : — Non
dari rem elementatum in cujus ultima substantione non reperiatur
Further Analysis. 333
But the elements, continues Plotinus, are neither
form, nor matter, but composite and therefore corrup-
tible ; and since everything manifest is corruptible, and
yet a certain subsistence remains, it is necessary there
should be a Nature primarily vital which is also form-
less, indestructible and immortal, as being the principle
of other things. Form indeed subsists according to
quality and body in manifestation ; but matter accord-
ing to the subject which is indefinite, because it is not
form. This Indefinite is not therefore everywhere to
be despised, nor that w^hich in the conception of it is
formless, if it applies itself to things prior, i. e., to
the divine exemplaries, and the most excellent life.
Neither should it be considered by any one as incredi-
ble that the?'e is a certain pure and divine Matter me-
diately subsisting between primary and secondary causes
and their gross effects ; but it is rather requisite to be
persuaded by philosophical assertion that such is the
case, and that by means of the Theurgic Art it is made
manifest and imparted through arcane and blessed
visions. So far do the ancients likewise extend matter
even to the gods themselves ; and no otherwise ac-
cording to them can a participation of superior Being
be effected by men who dwell on earth, unless a foun-
dation of this kind be first established. For this
Matter, as Jamblicus relates, being connascent with
the gods by whom it is imparted, will doubtless be an
entire and fit receptacle for the manifestation of Di-
vinity. He moreover adds, that an exuberance of
power is always present w^ith the highest causes ; and
at the same time that this power transcends all things,
it is nevertheless present with all in unimpeded energy.
Hence, the first illuminate the last of things, and im-
aurum. That is (if we may interpret), Light, wliich is the formal
essence of all things, and most abundant in gold, is found in
the ultimate alchemical analysis of every existing thing. — That
all metals, likewise, may be reduced into water, that is, into
their first pure matter, is the doctrine of Plato and }iiQ_diaci^e»
Aristotle. See Taylor's Translation of the Timseus of the former,
and the Meteors of the latter, and the Select Works of Plotinus,
p. 38, note.
334 Laws and Conditions.
material are present with material natures immani-
festly.i
Since, then, it becomes necessary simply to refer
Being to all things, and all things sympathize thereby
internally with each other ; but consciousness in this
natural life of ours is separated off from the antecedent
essentiality, so that we perceive in reality nothing of
our true selves : hence the ancients have declared this
life to be little better than a diminution of existence ;
for by no ordinary process of rational contemplation
is the mind able to conceive this nature or the infini-
tude of true Being. But if any one wish to discover
the One Principle he must become first assimilated to
it, as Proclus in the sixth book, on the Parmerndes of
Plato directs — he must raise himself to that which is
most united in nature, and to its flower and that
through which it is Deity ; by which it is suspended
from its proper fountain and connects and unites and
causes the universe to have a sympathetic consent with
itself — I have also, says Plotinus, investigated myself,
as one among the order of beings, and the reality is
testified by reminiscence ; for no one of real beings
subsists out of intellect nor as sensibles in place ; but
they always abide in themselves, neither receiving
mutation nor corruption.^ And again in his treatise
concerning the Descent of the Soul, the same author
relates, — Often when by an intellectual energy, I am
roused from body and converted to myself, and being
separated from externals, retire into the depths of my
essence, I then perceive an admirable beauty, and am
then vehemently confident that I am of a more ex-
cellent condition than of a life merely animal and
terrene. For then especially, 1 energize according to
the best life and become the same with a nature truly
Divine ; being established in this nature I arrive at
that transcendent energy by which I am elevated be-
/ ^ <lamblicus on the Mysteries, chap, xxiii. sect, v., and Plotinus'
Select Works — of Matter, and of the Impassivity of Incorporeal
Natures.
2 Select Works, p. 294.
Further Analysis. 335
yond eveiy other intelligible, and fix myself in this
sublime eminence as in an ineffable harbom' of repose.
Bat after this blessed abiding in a Divine Nature, fall-
ing off from Intellect into the discursive energy of
reason, I am led to doubt how formerly and at present
my soul became intimately connected with a corporeal
nature ; since in this deific state she appears such as
she is herself, although invested with the dark and
everflow^ing vestiment of body. And since there is a
twofold nature, one intelligible and the other sensible,
it is bettei^ indeed for the soul to abide in the inteUi-
gible world ; but necessary from its condition that it
should participate of a sensible nature ; nor ought it to
suffer any molestation because it obtains only a middle
order in the universality of things ; since it possesses
indeed a divine condition, though it is placed even as
in the last gradation of an intelligible essence, border-
ing, as it were on the regions of sense. For our souls
are able alternately to rise fi'om hence, carrying back
with them an experience of what they have known
and suffered in their fallen state ; from w^ience they
will learn how blessed it is to abide in the Intelligible
World ; and by a comparison, as it were of contraries,
will more plainly perceive the excellence of a superior
state. For the experience of evil produces a clearer
knowledge of good, especially where the power of
judgment is so imbecile, that it cannot without such
experience obtain the science of that which is best.^
These things supposed then, we proceed to a more
intimate consideration of the Material Principle which,
according to these philosophers, the Divine experience
imparts ; that we may judge how far they agree or
whether they differ at all in their definitions from those
of the foregoing Hermetic philosophers and adepts.
These Greeks wishing indeed to exhibit, as well as
words might enable, the peculiarities of this Matter
when they assert that it is one, immediately add that
it is all things, by which they signify that it is not
1 See Plotinus on the Descent of the Soul, last of the five
Treatises rendered by T. Taylor.
336 Laws and Conditions.
some one of the things with which sense brings us ac-
quainted ; and in order that we may understand that
the Identity in every Being is something uncompounded,
and that the mind should not fall into the error of
coacervation, they say it is one so far as one ; depriving
the idea of multitude and dual, i. e. rejflective, con-
templation. When likewise they assert that it is
everyw^here, they add incontinently that it is nowhere ;
so on endeavouring by means of contrary peculiarities
to gather the mind up into a neutrality about itself; at
one and the same time exhibiting these in order to ex-
terminate from the apprehension those notions which
are externally derived, and such ordinary reasoning as
tends to obscure rather than elucidate the essential
characteristics of real Being. Neither is there any
absurdity in their conduct of the understanding so far,
or even in an external sense considering one thing to
be many, since every centre bears a circumference of
radii, and each dependent number differs from the One.
But since the ethereal element is described by so
many ablative characteristics, since they assert it is
neither form, nor quality, nor corporeal, nor reason,
nor bound ; but a certain Infinity ; how therefore ought
we to conceive, asks Plotinus, of that which is infi-
nite? What is its idiom in the intellection, or how is
such an image to be entertained by the reasoning
power ? Shall we say it is indefiniteness ? For if the
similar is perceived by the similar, the Indefinite also
will be apprehended by the Indefinite : Reason how-
ever in such an apprehension, will become bounded
about the Indefinite, that is to say, will pass out from
itself into an undefined void of thought. But if every-
thing is known by reason and intelligence, and no
otherwise, and here reason is bounded so that it cannot
be said to have intelligence ; but, as it were, a depriva-
tion of intellect is implied, how shall we conceive such
a state of being to be genuine, or believe it even to be
at all ? Yet Plato, in Timceus, informs us that Matter
is indeed to be apprehended, and that by a sort of
defective or ablative reasoning ; and Aristotle has been
Further Analysis. 337
at some pains in his Aletaphysics to explain the con-
ceptive idiom of Materiahty. I mean, he says, by
Matter, that which of itself is neither essence nor
quantity, nor any one of those things, by which Being
is defined. For there is something of which each of
these is predicated, and from which Being and each of
its predications are different ; but Matter, being the
last of things (extant without identity), has neither
essence nor quantity nor anything else in the percep-
tion, at least of those things which subsist according
to accident. Or if any one from this suppose Matter
to be essence, he will err ; for a separate subsistence
as this or that particular thing especially belongs to
what we call essence, (that is to say, composition of
subject and object is necessarily implied in the idea
of true intelligence,) which is both posterior and an-
terior to the subject sought ; which therefore is in a
certain respect manifest only, being one and void in
respect of other things ; Matter, therefore, concludes
the logician, is made veritably manifest only by
negation and in defect of true Being; so that, to
pass into contact with it, is to be in a certain respect
ignorant.^
Since, then, they assert this subject-matter to be
somewhat ; and real, notwithstanding all its inverse
and irrational characteristics ; ought we not to analyze
yet more profoundly therefore, not shghting reason
indeed, but passing through it, beyond every bound
and finite probability in order to conceive that kind of
ultimate ignorance, which is the Infinity of Life ? Whe-
ther shall we conceive it to be an all-perfect oblivion,
or such an ignorance as in the absence of every know-
ledge is present ? or does the Indefinite consist in ne-
gation simply, or in conjunction wdth a certain inter-
rogative affirmation? Or shall we suppose it to be
like darkness to the eye, obscurity being the ground
of every visible colour? For to this, also, the wise
ancients have compared the estate of Being verging to
1 Aristotle's Metapli. book ix. p. 221 ; book x. p. 237, 154, Ac.
z
338 Laws and Conditions.
anniliilatioii : and as the sensual eye without hght sees
nothing but darkness, becoming in a certain respect
and for the period one with it ; so the mental eye, ob-
servant of no attracting object, thought, reflection,
and all that in sensibles resembles light being sub-
merged, and not being able or having the motive to
bound that which remains, is said to become wholly
into that obscure oblivion which is the Original of Life :
a crass, obscure vacuity — as in the Descent Virgil de-
scribes it — vast, endless, horrible — and Parmenides
and the rest cited to prove the same initial non-
entity of all ; having the same relation to true Being,
indeed, as silence to sound, as night to day, or as body
rude and misshapen bears to any artificial form with
which it may afterwards become endued. And as that
which is above all degrees of intelligence is a certain
infinite and pure light, so is this darkness, therefore,
to be conceived at the opposite extreme of the mag-
netic chain, which is extended a non gradu ad uon
uradum : and this is that ladder of Celsus and of Zo-
roaster which reaches from Tartarus to the highest
Heaven. Just as in the ascending series of causes, it
is necessary to arrive at something which is the Final
Cause of all ; so in descending analytically it is equally
necessary to stop at the contrary conclusion, which is
thus proved, in the experience, to be the last and lowest
eflfect, in which all the attributes of the First Cause are
not only deficient but reversed.
When therefore the mind is in the Night of Matter,
shall we sup])ose that she is affected in such a manner
as if she understood nothing? By no means, says
the philosopher — but when she beholds Matter she
suffers such a passion as ivlien she receives the Being of
that which is formless ; and her perception of the Form-
less Subject is obscure, and vast, and infinite, as we
have shown, where descending into the bosom of the
Mysteries, Intellect, having already analyzed and sepa-
rated the component parts of Being, becomes dis-
mayed about the sensation of her extreme life. Then
indeed she understands obscurely, and sinking into the
Further Analysis. 339
Abyssal Subject, feels, but understands not her intellec-
tion any more ; until, pained with the void of the re-
treating infinitude, (such being the divine decree,) and
as if afraid of being placed out of the order of things,
the soul retracts, rallying about her last deserted Unit,
and not enduring any longer to stop at nonentity, be-
comes into true Being. So true is it, that Death is the
way of Life, and that the fear of God is the beginning
of Wisdom.
For Self-knowledge is impossible unless every other
knowledge is deprived ; as this selfhood hkewise
is obliterated in the overwhelming attraction, which
raises it into the First Cause. And thus extremes
are said to be present at the new birth, when Light
springs forth to manifestation out of the abyssal Dark-
ness, which is then alone before its Creator ; and is
brought forth by Him for a First Matter to give con-
trasting substance to His revelation, and understanding
to His Act. — As the motto simply expresses it — Deus,
CUM SOLUS FUISSET IN PRINCIPIO, CREAVIT UNAM SUB-
STANTIAM, HANC PRIMAM MATERIAM NOMINAMUS.
And since it is given us in theory to understand
that such an hypostasis is in the beginning without
all affirmation, being neither life, nor intellect, nor
reason, nor bound, for it is infinite ; nor power from
itself, but falls off from the consciousness of all these ;
so ought we therefore to conceive of the First Matter,
which cannot either receive the appellation of Being,
since it is not known in energy, but flies from him,
indeed, who wishes intently to behold; for the thought,
as circumscribing boundary, eludes the Infinite, and
thus the desire is, in this instance, diametrically opposed
to the presence of the thing desired. When therefore, / /y j a
as the Platonist and -Gdt^ teach, it is unknown, or ^.c. ytu:?u>txZ(.i
known as nothing ; it is rather probably present, but
is not perceived by him who strives self-actively to com-
prehend it. And this the poets signify in the story of
Actseon, who for his presumptuous intrusion was dis-
graced by the goddess and hunted thereafter by his own
distracted thoughts ; but to the sleeping Endymion she
z 2
(6 1
340 Laws and Conditions.
vouchsafed her wilUng presence, and the vast benefits
of her love.
Quaeres multuin et non iuvenies
Fortasse inveuies cum non quaeres.
When you have assumed to yourself an Eternal
Essence, says Porphyry, infinite in itself according to
power ; and begin to perceive intellectually an hypos-
tasis unwearied, untamed, and never faiUng, but trans-
cending in the most pure and genuine life, and full
from itself; and which, likewise, is established in itself,
satisfied with and seeking nothing but itself; to this
essence, if you add a subsistence in place, or a relation
to a certain thing, at the same time you diminish this
essence, or rather appear to diminish it, by ascribing
to it an indigence of place or a relative condition of
being ; you do not, however, in reality diminish this
essence, but you separate yourself from the percep-
tion of it, by receiving as a veil the phantasy which
runs under your conjectural apprehension of it. For
you cannot pass beyond, or stop, or render more per-
fect, or effect the least change in a thing of this kind,
because it is impossible for it to be in the smallest
degree deficient. For it is much more sufficient than
any perpetually flowing fountain can be conceived to
be.^ If, however, you are unable to keep pace with it,
1 The Mind of the Divinity, says Trismegistus, which becomes
known by the Divine Intention in tlie understanding, is most like
unto a torrent running with a violent and swift stream from a
high rock, whereby it glides away also from the understanding of
such as are either hearers or dealers in it. — Asclepius, cap. i. end.
See also Vaughan, Lumen de Lumine, where, discoursing with
Nature in her mineral region, the artist describes the same Matter
as if he had been an eye-witness of the whole supernal procedure
from its source. — A fat mineral nature it was, he says, bright like
pearls, and transparent like crystal ; when I had viewed it and
searched it well, then it appeared somewhat spermatic ; and here-
vpon I became informed that it was tlie First Matter and very
natural true sperm of the greater world. It is invisible in nature
and therefore there are few that find it ; many believe that it is
not to be found ; (for the world is made up of many divers dark
and particular ajid contrary qualities, and the first unity is occul-
Further Analysis. 341
and to become assimilated to the whole Intelligible
Nature, you should not investigate anything pertain-
ing to real Being ; or if you do, you will deviate from
the path that leads to it, and will look at something
else ; but if you investigate nothing else, being esta-
blished in yourself and in your own Essence, you will
be assimilated to the Intelligible Univei-se, and will not
adhere to anything posterior to it. Neither therefore
should you say, I am of a great magnitude; for omit-
ting this idea of greatness, you will become univei*sal,
as you were universal prior to this. But when, together
with the universe, something was present with you,
you became less by the addition ; because the addition
was not from truly subsisting Being, for to that you
cannot add anything. When, therefore, anything is
added from non-being (i. e. from the subjective self-
hood) a place is afforded to poverty as an associate,
accompanied by an indigence of all things. Hence,
dismissing non-beiug, you will then become sufficient ;
for when any one is present with that which is present
in himself, then he is present with true Being, which
is everywhere ; but when you withdraw from yourself,
then likewise you recede from real Being : of such
great consequence is it for a man to be present with
that which is present with himself, that is to say, with
his rational part, and to be absent from that which is
external to him.^
Add to this, that contraries are always consubsistent
in the Divine Original — the small, the great, the defi-
tated in its generation and does not appear). But that stream was
more large than any river in her full channel ; and notwithstanding
the height mid violence of the fall, it descended without any noise,
the waters were dashed and their current distracted by the saltish
rocks, but for all this they came down with a dead silence like the
still soft air. Some of the liquor, for it ran by me, I took up to
judge what strange ivoollen stibstonce it was that did steal down like
snow. When I had it in my hand, it was no common water but a
certain kind of oil of a watery complexion. — Lumen de Lumine,
pp. 7, 8, &c. This same, Sendivogius in his New Light, calls the
water of our sea, the water of life, not wetting the hands ; and be-
lieve me, he says, for I saw it with my eyes and felt it, that water
was as white as snow, &c.
1 Porphyry's Auxil. to the Perception of Intelligibles, sect. iii.
342 Laws and Conditions.
cient, and the exceeding ; for as a mirror is, to external
images, passive, neither able of itself to withhold, nor
yet to pass away, so is this ethereal glass to intellect,
subsisting according to processure and in defect of all
imagination. Hence, every imagination concerning it
will be false, either that it should appear in the con-
ception as any particular thing, or contrariwise as
nothing ; for it is both ; and the subsistence, which is
the reahty of it, may be felt indeed, not known — but
as an escape of consciousness into its primal source
without ideal hmitation. Thus is it said to be formless,
variable, incorporeal, infinite ; neither mere power, nor
perfect action, but a weak superstantial prolific nature,
as it w^ere nothing in the Idea yet in Being all things
— whence every form of life, increase, and materiality
also are derived. And Ideas, as they enter into and depart
from it, are seen as images which pervade without
dividing, like shadows in water, or more exactly as in
a dream ; or as if we should conceive imaginations sent
into a repercussive mirror or reflective vacuum of the
understanding.
And the Passive Nature ought indeed to be a thing
of this kind, pure and indeterminate ; that it may
reflect, without self-hinderance or refi'action, the Divine
Light throughout ; that there may be no falsehood or
commixture of images, but the Truth only, and alone,
and by itself should be made manifest in life. Such was
the Alatter so often celebrated by the Alchemists, the
Quintessence of Plato, the Water of Thales, the Non
Being of Parmenides, and that Abyss of the Caba-
Hsts, styled also by them Unknown, Void, Nothing,
Infinite, until, returning by its Rational Boundary in
the Freed Will to consciousness, it makes manifest
the Life, Wisdom, Plenitude, and Supreme Cause of
all. And concerning this Matter ecclesiastics of dif-
ferent orders are happily agreed : Pierce the Black
Monk, with the Benedict Valentine ; the experimental-
ist Friar Bacon, with the Greek Divine ; Synesius,
with the Canon Ripley, Morien, Lully, and Albertus
Magnus ; the Mahomed an princes Calid, Geber, and
Avicenna, with Paracelsus and the Christian brother-
Further Analysis. 343
hood of the Rosy Cross, who, having searched into
Nature by their proper Reason experimentally, found
Her's ; and used it ; giving thanks, and adoring the
perfection of the Almighty Creator in his discovered
Light.
For in the natural world there is no such Matter to
be found ; but the purest is defiled with the imagination
of Forms externally introduced. Nothing therefore is
generated truly, i. e. we mean, simply so as to represent
the Formal Agent alone ; or can be ; for Nature is bound
magically, nor is she able of herself to loosen the bond
of coagulation, by which her Inner Light and principle
of perfection is everywhere shut up. She cannot enter
into the True Light ; for, as the adept says, she has no
hands, ^ nor intellect sufficient, nor a will free to vin-
dicate her final purpose in life. It is therefore she
proceeds to generate in monotonous retrogression,
always circulating into herself. If indeed things be-
held in Nature were such as the Archetypes, whence
they are derived, it might be said that matter is
passive to their reception ; but that which is seen as
that wdiich sees is falsified, and nothing possesses a
true similitude ; all is mixture and an adulterous
manifestation, so far as the phenomenon of the ex-
ternal Nature is concerned. Without the magical
solution and human aid to fortify, the Spirit is not
able to forsake her extraneous forms even, much less
can she conceive herself singly in the Universal anew.
Wherefore she reads this important lesson to Ma-
dathan, who thinking, in his ignorance, to make
the Philosopher's Stone without dissolution, receives
this check: — An tu nunc cochleas vel cancros cum
testis devorare niteris ? An non prius a vetustissimo
planetarum coquo maturari et preparari illos oportet?
Dost thou think, says she, to eat the oysters, crabs,
shells and all ? Ought they not first to be opened and
prepared by the most ancient cook of the planets ?
If any one now, therefore, by hazard should lightly
^ Klum Ariadue, page 61.
344 Laws and Conditions.
propose to himself to probe this Matter ; yet without
risking anything, or devoting his hfe, as philosophers
did formerly, to the pursuit ; but thinks the times are
altered, and that his mind, being on the alert, will dis-
cover it, or that some entranced sleepwaker will reveal
the truth to him, if there be any, without delay ; let him
be advised by these monitions ; since Life and nothing
but Life, and no other Fire but that of Intellect,
sublimed and fortified in its efficient source, discovers
the True Matter of the adepts ; and this, as we are
abundantly instructed, by a dissolution of the Vital
Spirit and alienation of its natural bond. — Flesh and
blood cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven,
neither doth corruption inherit incorruption ; the
sting of death is sin, but the strength of sin is in
the Law of dual generation.
Debito modo ergo Lapidem solvas,
Et nequaquam sophistico,
Sed potius secundilm mentem sapient6ni,
Nullo corrosivo adliibito ;
N^usquam enim aqua aliqua est,
Qua* solvere possit lapidem nostrum,
Pra^ter unicum fonticulum purissimum et limpidissiuium,
Sponte scatxu'ientem, qui latex ille est.
Ad solutionem idoneus,
Sed omuibus fere absconsus,
Incalescens quoque per se,
In causa est, ut lapis svdet lachnjmas ;
Lentus calor externus ei expedit,
Id quod memorife probe niandabis.
Adhue iinum tibi aperire libet,
Quod nisi Yiderisy?/»n/;« Hiyrinn
Inferius, superiusque albedinem existere.
Opus tuum sinistra pei'actum est,
Et lapidem errone solvisti,
Ex hoc signo potes statim cernere.
Si vero recte procedis,
Apparet tibi atra nebula,
Quae fundum sine mora petet,
Spiritu albedinem assumente}
All that is performed in the Proto-chcmic artifice
^ Luccrna, Salis Phil. p. 30, cap. iii.
Further Analysis. 345
may be comprehended in three terms — solution, sub-
Hmation, and fixation. Solution dissolves and liquifies
the included Spirit ; sublimation volatilizes and washes
it ; and after calcination there is a reunion into a more
permanent form of Being. And these processes are
reiterated many times, and many labours of body and
mind have to be undergone, as in the Practice will be
demonstrated ; and as Hermes himself assures, that to
obtain the blessed Lunary of Diana, he had suffered
much, and toiled incessantly. For the spirit is in the
beginning, even in the best disposed subjects, terres-
trial, heavy, fantastic, and proves rebellious every-
where at its Source. And, as in the Sphinx's fa-
bles, we read that when vanquished, she w^as carried
within the temple upon the back of an ass, this is
to signify the simple estate of Being to which such
a nature is to be reduced by deprivation of all passion,
will, imagination, purpose, or reflective thought. Nei-
ther, perhaps, is the patient suffering that has after-
wards to be endured, in bearing and bringing forth
the burden of the divine mystery, unaptly repre-
sented under this same guise of an ass ; for it is
not until the conquered elements return under the
humiliating cross of dissolution that the catholic
Wisdom is made manifest, and brought to hand.
Agrippa, in his Vanity of the Sciences, has written
many things in favour of this asinine condition, w^hich
is very necessary, he says, for a disciple of Wisdom to
undergo ; for this beast is an example of fortitude,
patience, and clemency, and his influence occultly de-
pends on Sephiroth, i. e. Hochma. He liveth on tittle
forage, is contented with whatsovei^ it be ; is ready to
endure penury, hunger, labour, stripes, and persecution;
is of a very simple, indifferent understanding, yet withal
has an innocent, clean heart ; without choler, and peace-
ful, bearing all things without offoice ; as a reward for
which virtues, he wanteth lice, is seldom sick, and
liveth longer than any other beast. — So runs the paral-
lel according to the magician's mind; and the ass, he
goes on further to observe, does also many labours
346 Laws and Conditions.
above his part ; for ht brcakttli the earth with the
plough, (Iraiceth many heavy carts and water in mills,
grif/ds cor?!, &c. ; and these things wiUingly, for
against his will he does not go. All which qualifica-
tions are, in their similitude, very applicable and ne-
cessary to be found in the Philosophic Subject ; and
without which it does not serve or carry out into
operation the Divine behests. But many wonderful
stories are related of this allegorical ass in former
times, and of his qualifications, which the familiar
quadruped is no more known to exhibit ; nor is he
even treated with that kind of consideration which
tradition has secured in certain instances for things
less celebrated and as unworthy. For did not the
Saviour signalize this beast above every other, making
choice of it on the occasion of his greatest earthly tri-
umph ? Of Abraham, too , the Father of the Faithful, we
read that he constantly travelled with his asses ; and
that one, ridden by the prophet Balaam, was notoriously
clear-sighted and, more discerning than his master,
intelligibly spoke. A story, little less astonishing, is
related of Ammonius, tbe philosopher, that he ad-
mitted an ass daily to be the auditor of his lectures,
and join in fellow scholarship with Origen and the
Greek Porphyry. Who would believe it? Yet this
same ass has been accounted a worthy companion
of the wise in all ages, and has borne the burden
of the Mysteries from time immemorial, Jews, Eth-
nics, Christians, have in turn, identifying, honoured
him ; neither, perchance, had Apuleius of Megara
been admitted to the mysteries of Isis, if he had not
first of an inquisitive philosopher been turned into an
ass. There is no creature, concludes the panegyrist,
that is so able to receive divinity as an ass, into whom
if ye be not at length turned, ye shall in no wise be
able to carry the divine mysteries.^ For nothing that
is defiled by information, or inconstant, or impassive,
' Vanity of the Sciences, chapter next in conclusion. Apuleius,
Metamorphoses, or Golden Ass.
Further Analysis. 347
or selfish, or impure can attract Divinity, All mixed
unguents are hateful to Minerva.
The goddess scorns
All mixture of her pui'e and simple oil.^
And, as in the Mysteries, the Aspirant entering- into
the interior to behold the Adytum, leaves behind him
all the statues in the temple ; so must the mind be
prepared to depart from all images and intellections,
whether self-originating or impressed, before it can
entertain the simple Unity of Light within. The wise
hierophants indeed appear to have signified by these
illustrations the order in which Divinity is perceived.
For, as when returning after the association within,
which was not with a statue or mere mental image
(but with the reality which these images represent),
the statues again present themselves as secondary
objects to view ; so likewise, subsequent to the Divine
Union, there recurs That also which was in the mind
prior to the union, exalted and multiplied. Af/d That
ichick thus remains to him who passes beyond all
things, is That ivhich is prior to all things, and the
First Jilatter. For the soul does not willingly accede
to that which is entirely non-being, but running back
from thence in a contrary direction, it arrives not
at another thing but at itself. And as in the Di-
vine conjunction, whilst it lasts, there are not two
things as of subject and object in the consciousness,
but the life understanding and the light understood are
one ; whoever thus becomes One by mingling with
the Efficient, will have a remnant of it with himself;
according to the eloquent tradition of Plotinus, where,
discussing this union, he treats it as no mere spectacle
or theoretical figment, but as a true experimental
ingress of the understanding essence to its source.
And the light and energy which are there, he says, are
of the First Light shining primarily in itself, which at
' Callimachus's Hj^mn to Minerva.
348 Laws and Conditions.
one and the same time illuminates and is illuminated.
But if any one should inquire what the nature is
of this First Light, which is the foundation of every
intellect and primarily knows itself, such a one should
first become established in Intellect, when he will be
able through it, as an image, to behold the Arche-
type. And this, continues the philosopher, may be
effected if you first separate body from the man and its
defilements ; and That which becomes generated of in-
tel/igence, after everything foreign is removed, is the
original of all. For this primary motion of the ebbing
life from its ultimate recessure recreates, and so the
Generative virtue, which was alienated, becomes re-
united to Mind.
And here we observe the rule of thought to be in-
variable, whether theoretic or in actual operation ;
whether, according to strict analysis, reason becomes
bounded about its own inversion, as with common
logic is the case ; or, experimentally proving, it effects
that inversion, strictly followed either way, it arrives
at the same Truth, though in different relations, the
one in hght, the other in life, the one by inference,
the other in Absolute Identity, proving the First
Source. The differences and inconsistencies that occur
in the ancient writers, and those faults which now to
verbal critics are most apparent, vanish for the most
part in their right understanding, and might cease to
be regarded as such, could we but for an interval only
enter into their original light. The proud spirit of
modern science might then be taught to venerate the
Wisdom it has so long in ignorance despised ; even to
honour the very contradictions, which not from levity
or indistinctness of thought arose, but from such an
excessive subtlety and refinement of reason rather, as,
seeking to find utterance, was blurred by inadequate
reception, and the duplicity of common speech.
349
CHAPTER III.
Of the Manifestation of the. First ATatter, and lis
Information by Light.
"Wisdom is poured forth like water, and glory failetli not before
Him for ever. — Book of Enoch, c. xl. v. 1.
LET US now conceive the Vital Spirit tbeurgically
purified and freed through sacrifice of all foreign
attractions, revolving about its centre and having
power active and passive in hypostatic union always
about to generate the infinite fulness which it contains
and draws ; as even now we approach, carrying along
with us the body of our Sphinx, subdued and contrite,
to the gate of the first Adytum ; where we would con-
template awhile, in the vestibule, admiring at the Tears
of Isis, even that blessed Water which Nature sheds
divinely for thersmszioef the world. For not all was
vaporous vision, as we have shown, or mere ideality
on the internal ground ; but experience there was pre-
sent with power and effect in substance to bear it wit-
ness.
It was scarce day wlien, all alone,
I saw Hyanthe and her throne ;
In fresh green damasks she was drest,
And o'er a saphir globe did rest.
This slippery sphere when I did see.
Fortune, I thought it had been thee ;
But when I saw she did present
A majesty more permanent,
I thought my cares not lost, if I,
Should finish my discoverie.
Sleepy she looked to m.j first sight,
As if she had watched all the night,
And underneath her ha^id was spread
The white supporter of her head :
But at my second studied view,
I could perceive a silent dew
350 Laws and Conditions.
Steal down her cheeks ; least it should staijne
Tliose cheeks, where only smiles should reign,
The tears streamed down for haste, and all
In chains of liquid jJearl did fall.
Fai}- sorrows ; and more dear than joys,
AVhich are but emptie ayres and noise ;
Tour drops present a richer prize.
For they are something like her eyes.
Pretty white Fool ! why hast thou been
Sullied with tears and not with sin ?
'Tis true ; thy tears like polished skies,
Are the bright rosials of thy eyes ;
But such strange /a^e« do them attend.
As if thy woes would never end,
From dro2)s to sighs they turn, and then
Tliose sighs retm-n to drops again :
But whilst the silver torrent seeks
T\\o^e flowers tliat watch it in thy cheeks,
The white and red Hyanthe wears,
Turn to rose water all her tears.
Have you beheld ^Jlame that springs
From iticense, when sweet curled rings
Of smoke attend her last xoeak fires.
And she all in perfumes expires ?
So died Hyanthe ; here, said she.
Let not this vial part from thee,
It holds my heart, tho' now 'tis spilled,
And into waters all distilled,
'Tis constant still: trust not false smiles,
Who SMILES and weeps not, she beguiles.
IS'ay trust not tears ; false are the few.
Those tears are many that are true.
Trust me, and take the better choyce,
AVho hath my tears can want no joyes}
When divine Causes and human Conditions which
are assimilated to them are co-ordinate to one and the
same end, the perfection of such works overflowing
returns a pure and most bright reward.
Ite profani ! Fanum est fanum
Nihil ingreditur profanum.
For thought does not move, passing its owm essence
into feehng in vain ; but mercy imparts the benefits,
and gifts of the most exquisite sacrifice.
^ Vaughan's Ccelum Terrae, p. 93, &c.
Manifestation of the Matter. 351
Nor less instructive than elegant is the following-
Prosopopoeia of the Stone.
In nomine Dei viventis et vivijicantis.
Terra mihi corpus, vires mihi praestitit ignis :
Alta domus qufero, sedes est semper in inio :
Et me perfundit qui me cito deserit liumor.
Sunt milii sunt lacrymae, sed non est caiisa doloris ;
Est iter ad coelum, sed me gravis impedit aer :
Et qui me genuit, sine me non nascitur ipse.
Pulvis aquae tenuis, modico cum pondere lapsus,
Sole madens, sestate fluens, in frigore siccus,
Elumina facturus, totas prius occupo terras ;
Mira tibi referam nostrse primordia vitae :
Nondum natus eram, nee eram tum matris in alvo,
Jam posito partu, natum me nemo videbat.
Non possum nasci, si non occidero matrem :
Occidi matrem, sed me manet exitus idem.
Id mea mors patitur, quod jam mea fecit origo.
Vita mihi mors est, morior si caepei'o nasci ;
Sed prius est fatura letlii quam lucis origo ;
Sic solas manes ipsos mihi duco parentes.
]\Iagna quidem non sum, sed inest mihi maxima virtus,
Spiritus est magnus, quamvis in corpore parvo.
Nee mihi germen habet noxam, nee culpa ruborem.
Ambo sumus lapides, una sumus, ambo jacemus ;
Quam piger est mius, tantum non segnis it alter ;
Hie manet immotus non deserit ille moveri.
Findere me nnlli possunt, praecidere multi :
Sed sum versicolor, albus quandoque futurus
Male manere niger, minus ultima fata verebor.
NuUa mihi certa est, nuHa est peregrina figura.
Fulgor inest intus, radianti luce coruscus,
Qui nihil ostendit, nisi si quid viderit ante.
Non ego continuo morior dum spiritus exit.
Nam redit assidufe, quamvis et saepe recedat :
Et mihi nunc magna est animse, nunc nulla facultas.
Phis ego sustinui quam corpus debuit unum.
Tres animas habui, quas omnes intus habebam.
Dicessere duse, sed tertia poene secuta est.^
This marvellous subsistence of the Vital Principles
in their extreme separation by Art has been already-
noticed, and will be in the Practice more particularly
1 Theatrum Chemicum, vol. iii. p. 763.
.^1
352 Laws and Conditions,
hereafter. It may be sufficient for the present to ob-
serve, that great care and dihgence is needed at this
juncture to apply the threefold secret of the Art ;
so that the hypostatic principles of attraction and re-
pulsion and circulation may be brought into a perfect
equilibriate accord, the one no more acting than the
other is resisting in the ethereal bond. — Seek Three in
One, and again seek One in Three, dissolve, congeal :
and remember, saysKuhnrath, most carefully to observe
the threefold law of the composition, otherwise the
animated spirit cannot be conjoined to the body, nor, on
the other hand, will the body be reunited to the spirit.
Which process, however, being rightly gone through
from the beginning — the new Chaos of the Universal
Nature of the new world will then appear to be un-
folded and separated. Apply no manual labour, but
when you shall have enacted the separation, — (cum pcf-
'-^ <'oj^c3a^ motum in ire, -^j^eris internum et pro gaudio,
lachrymabis !) — thou wilt surely understand that the
original sin has been removed, separated by the Fire
of Divine love in the regeneration of the three princi-
ples— body, soul, and spirit. I write not fables : With
thy hands thou shalt touch, and with thy eyes thou
shalt see Azoth ! The Universal ! which alone, with
the internal and external fire in harmonious sympathy
with the Olympic Fire, is sufficient for thee : by inevit-
able necessity, physico-chemically united for the con-
summation of the Philosopher's Stone. ^
When, in the last extreme of tribulation and depart-
ing life, the returning faith and desire of the Passive
Spirit attracts the Soul again into herself, the first link
in the chain of the magnetic series moves : then the
Divine Fiat comes mercifully to bless the union, and
a new hypostasis is created out of the darkness to
abide : the fiery soul suffi3rs itself again to be impri-
soned, as by a lawful magic, in the hquid crystal of
the understanding ether ; and the light which is in her
then streams forth brightly rejoicing in her Paradise
• fethnrath, Ampli. Sap. Etern., Isag. in fig. cap. viii.
Manifestation of the Matter. 353
Regained. Then it is Lu.v mnmfeste et visibUis ad ocu-
lum, as the adept says, in which state it is first made
subject to the artist.
Mars et Venus, ou plutot Mars par Venus, en fait unC^
fort noble medicine et precieu^, qui a le grain fixe so- u'eA
laire ; et ces deux font ensemble le mariage si celebre /
aupres des amateurs de la sagesse : pendant leur Con-
jonction, il s'eleve une vapeur tres spiritueuse et ne-
cessaire a un grand ouvrage : il faut prendre cette va-
peur avec des filets bien subtils : dans le reste on
trouve un vitriol bien beau, dont on tire par des opera-
tions fort subtiles et de difficulte decouverte, un soii-
phre solaire ou or philosophique vivant.^ — Which
subtle device of Vulcan most profoundly hidden unless
the artist shall have rightly conceived either by
spiritual aid or himself experimenting in a triune fur-
nace spherically round, his labours are declared to be
vain, even though working in the right material, if
he cannot cause it to appear. If the horse's strength
be yet denied, in vain he will strike upon the moun-
tain, the flinty conscience yields no chalybeate, feels
no contrition, but by the fiery well-tempered steel.
Haud licet altaris latices haurire salubres
Cui scelerum viru mens moribunda tumet :
Divino calice abstiueat, ne cordis ad arcem
Pervehat arcanam potio iniqua luem.
Diffluat in lacrymas vehemens qiias fervor amoris
Elicit, et fletu diluat ante scelus.
Culpa ciens lacrjanas non tota est couscia, ^•i^u
Gemma oritur, foedi filia pulchra patris.
Gutta fluena oculis velut Indicus uuio fiet
Ut medicina reo, sic pretiosa Deo.
Post lacrymas e fonte potest haurire salutem :
Qui non flet moritur, ne moriare, fleas ^
All is sown under the cross and completed in its
number — Darkness will draw over the face of the
Abyss, Might, Saturn and the Antimony of the Wise
will be present, Obscurity and the Head of the Crow
in the various hour of conjunction ; and all the co-
^ Mystere de la Croix, chap. xiii.
2 Orpheus Eucharisticus Emblema LVI. — Apodosis.
A A
/
354 Laws and Conditions.
lours of the world will be apparent ; also Iris, God's
messenger, and the tail of the peacock ; as the rain-
bow through the falling drops, reflects the sunbeam
in the apparent ether after the storms are overpast
and the dark clouds are dispersed, the same beautiful
token of reconcihation is made apparent in the Micro-
cosmic Heaven; the fire and water are commingled, and,
falling together under the cross, germinate, and the
beautiful Ideal of Harmony is born of the SjDirit.
In cruce sub sphera venit Sapientia vera.
This is the union supersentient, the nuptials sub-
lime. Mentis et Universi ; the Thought solitary unites
itself to the non-being, or simple Understanding of its
ether, and proceeds into simultaneous subsistence with
exuberance of power. This is the marriage, by the
ancients so many times prefigured, of Peleus and
Thetis, of Earth and Heaven, when the gods, attended
with all their attributes, come together in divine hila-
rity ; of Bacchus and Ariadne ; of Jason with Medea,
when, after many trials and risk of life, he gained with
her the golden fleece from Colchos. Lo ! behold I
will open to thee a mystery, cries the Adept, the
bridegroom crowneth the bride in the North ! — In the
darkness of the North, out of the crucifixion of the
cerebral life, when the sensual dominant is occultated
in the Divine Fiat and subdued, there arises a Light
wonderfully about the summit, which, wisely returned
and multiplied according to the Divine blessing, is
made substantive in life.
In Arsenic sublimed there is a way streiglit,
Wytli Mercury calcined, nyne tymes liys weight,
And grownd together with the Water of Myglit,
Whicli beareth ingression of Lyfe and Light.
And anon, as they together byne,
Alio rnnnytli to Water bryght and schene ;
i^pon this Fii'e they grow together
'I'ill they be fast and flee no whyther :
Then feed them fortli with tliine own Hand,
Wilh meat and broad, tyll they be strong,
And thou shalt have a good Stouc.^
• Pierce, tlie Black Monk, on the Elixir.
Manifestation of the Matter. 355
Our golden water, says the adept, is not found in
wells, nor in profundities, but in higher places, and as
the inhabitants of the Canary Islands draw sweet
water fi'om the tree tops, so is ours taken from the
higher parts of the world ; for Mercury, being ripe,
arises to her superior habitation.^ Exalt her, and she
shall promote thee ; she shall bring thee to honour
when thou dost embrace her ; she shall give to thy
head an Ornament of Grace ; a Crown of Glory shall
she deliver unto thee.^ Return then, O my son,
reiterates the Hermetic Master, the coal being extinct
in life, as I shall note to thee ; and henceforth thou
art a Crowned King, resting over the Fountain and
drawing from thence the Auripigment, dry without
moisture : now I have made the heart of the hearers
hoping in thee to rejoice, even in their eyes beholding
thee in anticipation of that which thou possessest.
Rejoice now, therefore, O son of Art ! who hast the
Sun for thy Diadem and the Moon Crescent for thy
Garland.^
Ce qui a ete attii^e doit etre cuit si long temps
d'une certaine maniere de repetition, jusqu'a ce qu'il
montre les couleurs de Tare en ciel ; signe de grace
et de reconciliation ; et que les goutes pesantes tomhent
dans le fond du vase recipient ; quasi comme un mer-
cure commun distille : ce qui vous donnera un
Ophthalmique et Antiepileptique merveilleux ; et meme
quelque chose de plus si le Seigneur vous ouvre les .
yeux. Get ouvrage s'appelle Aimantique} i/^ /
Lastly, says I^»nrath, after the ashy colour, and the n-AjAy/
white, and the yellow, thou shalt behold the Stone of /
Philosophers ; our King and Lord of hosts go forth from
the chamber of his glassy sepulchre, into this mundane
sphe?'e, in his glorified body, regenerate and in perfec-
1 Mercury's Caducean Rod, sub iuit.
2 Proverbs of Solomon, iv. 8, 9.
•^ Tract. Aur., cap. ii., and Ripley Revived.
^ Mystere de la Croix, chap. xiii.
a A 2
356 Laws and Conditions.
tiofi perfected ; as a shining carbuncle, most temperate
in splendour, and whose parts, most subtle and most
pure, are inseparably blent together in the harmonious
rest of union into one.^
It is an adopted maxim with the Adepts that they
who sow in tears shall reap in joy. For he that re-
enters liberated and with the prepared Light of intel-
lectual faith, mourning, and, like another Achilles,
conscious of self-sacrihce, to besiege the fortress of
Self-Will in life, prevailing at length through death
jj/_ and every obstacle, the Divine Will favouring, is not
I^IjI/i^>XlLl/ only promoted through the whole teppestafe, and con-
/ verted to the proper virtue and perfection of its root ;
but there, likewise, to increase, triumph, and multiply,
according to the hermaphroditic virtue of its conceived
Law. So Life is perfected in Wisdom, and the Will
springs up in Paradise with fair golden fruits.
Corpus solutum est aqua perennis congelans Mercurium perpc-
tua congelatione.
Never grudge, then, that thou hast destroyed thy
gold, says Eireneus, for he that thus destroys loseth
it not, but soweth good seed in good earth, from
whence he shall receive it again with one hundred-fold
increase.^ Whereas he that saves his gold, that is to
say, remains satisfied in the first-fruits of his reason,
loses his labour, and is deceived, like Midas, and dis-
mayed for want of understanding and faith in the
destination of Causes.
But if any one here demand, how that which is
destroyed shoukl be capable of increase, and how^ the
newly implanted motive takes root in life? The
Apostle has best answered it ; as concerning the
mystery of the resurrection, he shows, by the common
analogy of nature, the Law to be such. Behold, says
he, that which is sown is not quickened except it die ;
^ j^tAnratli, Auiph. Sap. Etern., cbap. viii., Isag. in fig.
2 Eipley Revived, pp. 108, 198.
Manifestation of the Matter. 357
and that which is sown is not the body that shall be,
but mere grain, as it may be of wheat or any other
grain. — The germ of all Being is indeed corrupted
before it is brought forth, and seeds spring up not as
seeds merely, but into a perfect resemblance of their de-
veloped stock ; yet is not anything the more bettered
in its kind, but the process of vital melioration is
further exemplified in the fermentive art, where, by a
contrition and fretting of their elementary particles,
natures are transformed, and their bodies spiritualized
and preserved by the assimilating must or leaven. So,
in man, — there is a natural body and there is a spiritual
body. Howbeit that is not first which is spiritual, but
that which is natural, and afterwards that which is
spiritual. — The Rational Light, once discovered and set
in motion, acuates the Spirit, and the Spirit, in its
turn penetrating, overcomes the corporeal, wdiich is
the sensual dominant, in the regeneration ; and so
swallows up the same, that it is glorified and trans-
figured, occultating the body in more luminous mani-
festation.— Know ye not how a little leaven leaveneth
the whole lump ? Purge out therefore the old leaven,
that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened.^
Solve et Coagula, reiterates the Benedictine Monk,
Dissolve and Coagulate ; after putrefaction succeeds
generation, and that because of the incombustible sul-
phur that heats or thickens the coldness and crudities
of the quicksilver, which suffers so much thereby, that
at last it is united to the sulphur and made one body
therewith. And these, viz., the fire, air, and water, are
contained in one vessel in their earthly vessel, i. e. in
their gross body or composition ; and I take them and
then I leave them in one alembic, where 1 decoct and
sublime them, without the help of hammer, tongs, or
file; without coals, smoke, or fire, or bath ; or the alem-
bics of the sophisters. For I have my heavenly Jire,
which excites and stirs up the elemental one, according
as the matter desires a more becoming agreeable Form.^
^ 1 Coriiithians,x.v. 6, 7.
- Mehuiig ill A^aughau's Coelum Terrae, p. 122.
358 Laws and Conditions.
And the Light is made manifest in great Darkness,
viz., in the contrition or distress of the sensible nature
in the conscience, where a pecuHar motion is present ;
even then, as Jacob Bohme says, cometh the Power of
Christ in the midst of such a motion. And, further,
of the noble tincture arising in the Hght, he says — It
cometh forth from anguish into the meekness of the
hght and springeth forth afresh through the mortifying
anguish,^ as a life having a)wther property, where the
property of the fire is a desiring, and thereby it at-
tracteth the virtue of the Light into itself, and maketh
it an essence, ^^z., Water. — Common chemistry is not
without an analogy of this kind, by the condensa-
tion of light producing it into a fluid form. But herein
are the two forms : one according to the source of the
fire, which is red, and therein the virtue, viz., sulphur
is ; and the other is like a thin meekness, yet having
co-essentiality, is water, which is the desiring tincture ;
and both of which contracting together into one, are
converted into Blood. Now the original in the blood,
viz. fire, which is its warmth, is life ; and in the vir-
tue of the warmth, the thin Water of Life proceedeth ;
one virtue proceedeth forth from another, and the vir-
tue doth always re-assume that which goeth forth.
And this is the true Spirit which is born of the Soul,
wherein is the Image of God, and the Divine Virgin of
God's wisdom consisteth. For all understanding and
knowledge lieth in this Spirit ; it hath the senses and
the noble life, which uniteth it with God : for this
Spirit is so subtle that it can enter into God, if it
resigneth itself up to Him ; and, casting away the cun-
ning Jire of its own soul, putteth its ivill into God;
then it dwelleth with Him in power, and is clothed With.
the Divine Essentiality.'^
And this Essentiality it is which qualifies the true
Adept ; which sanctifies even as it qualifies, infusing
true goodness into every life that it has once adorned.
^ And, therefore, Herines says, tliat the sure quality of the
golden matter and the nature thereof is not sweetness, &c., cap. 7.
^ Bohme's Turned Eye, Quest. 37.
Manifestation of the Matter. 359
It is this Material of the Corner- Stone which links
reason to Divinity, Theology to the subtle philosophy
of the middle ages, and made the vulgarly contemned
Art of Alchemy to be honoured and holy. — It is sown
in corruption, It is raised in incorruption ; It is sown
in dishonour. It is raised in glory ; It is sown in weak-
ness. It is raised in power ; It is sown a natural body,
It is raised a spiritual body. The first man is of the
earth, earthy ; the second man is the Lord from hea-
ven.^
And this is that great and miraculous mystery of
our Image, which it behoves us to reflect into, rather
than profanely to discuss ; that we may know our
true selves, and what Adam, even our Father, is ; and
what the Son ; and, without error or presumption,
that Holy Spirit which fabricates all things, and sus-
tains all by the Word of his Power. —
Non poterit ilia dare qui uon habet : habet autem nemo, nisi
qui jam eohibitis elementis, victa natura superatis coelis, proge
suos Angelos, ad ipsum Archetypum isqvie transcendit ; Cujus
tunc Cooperator effectus potest Omnia.
For the Soul, being in such a condition, associates with
her Efficient, and he who perceives himself so to asso-
ciate will have a similitude of It with himself. And if he - jf^^^A^'^-^
■rpasses from himself as an image to the Archetype,
he will then attain the end of his progression. And
when falling off from the vision of God, if he again ex-
cites the virtue which is in himself and perceives him-
self to be perfectly adorned, he will again, says the
Platonic Successor, be elevated, through virtue pro-
ceeding to Intellect and Wisdom, and afterwards to the
Principle of things.
Vaughan, in his Anima Magia, has well described
the Hypostatic Metamorphoses ; and how the Light,
striking in a rapid coruscation from the centre to the
circumference, depends from the solitary unit through
the surrounding vapour, in a vital magnetical series ;
where the celestial nature, he says, differs not in sub-
1 I Corinthians, xv. 42, &c.
360 Laws and Conditions.
stance from the aerial spirit but only in degree and
complexion ; and the aerial differs from the aura or
material efflux of the soul in constitution only and not
in nature : so that These three, being but One substan-
tially, admit of a perfect hypostatic union, and may be
carried by a certain intellectual Light into the supreme
horizon, and so swallowed up of immortality. — Behold
I show you a mystery, says the Apostle, we shall not
all sleep, but we shall be changed , in a moment, in
the ticinkling of an eije, at the last trump (for the
trumpet shall sound) and the dead shall be raised in-
corruptible, and w^e shall be changed. For this cor-
ruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal
must put on immortality}
And know, says Roger Bacon, that it is impossible
for you to attain this immortal essentiahty, unless you
become sanctified in mind and purified in soul, so as to
be united to God, and to become one spirit with Him.
But if you revolve these my instructions in your mind,
you may obtain the knowledge of the beginning, the
middle, and the end of the whole icork. And you
will perceive such a subtlety of Wisdom, and such a pu-
rity of matter, as shall amply replete your soul, and
fill you with satisfaction . And when you shall ap-
pear thus before the Lord, He will open to you the
gates of His treasure, the like of which is not to be
found on earth. Behold, I show you the fear of the
Lord, and the love of Him, with unfeigned obedieiwe ;
nothing shall be wanting to them that fear the Lord,
who are clothed with the excellency of His holiness :
To whom be all praise.^ %
For as in the Beginning there was said to be one
only matter of all things, so in this imitative process
all diversities of things are seen to proceed from and
return to this only One ; which is called a conversion
of the elements, and a conversion of the elements in
this respect is just to make actives passive and passives
active ; the occult becoming manifest and the manifest
^ 1 Corinthians, xv. 51, Sic.
2 Eogeri Bachouis Eadix Mundi, lib. iii.
Manifestation of the Matter. 361
occult in inverse order of conception. And he, says
Sendivogius enigmatically, who knows how to congeal
water with heat, and to join a spirit thereto, shall cer-
tainly find out a thing more precious than gold, and
every thing else. Let him therefore cause that the
spirit be separated fr^om the water, that it may putrefy
and be like a grain. Afterwards, the faces being cast
awayy let him reduce and bring back the spirit again
from the deep into water and make them be joined again,
for that Conjunction will generate a branch of unlike
shape to its parents}
In such a process it was that the Quadrature of the
Circle was supernaturally demonstrated ; which natu-
rally it cannot be ; and in no other way but by a trans-
mutation of the hypostatic relations, as in a circulat-
ing medium making passives active and actives passive.
In the first conjunction the Spirit predominates ; in
the second the Soul, i. e., its Light; which two are, by
adepts, called Mercury and Gold, and the activity of
mercury over gold in the first place is because the
formal virtue of Sol is acatod ; his sulphur is imprisoned,
so that he is not aware of it, does not feel or know
himself, as we may say, until penetrated by the Mer-
curial Spirit, then he sends forth his Light ; to which
the Mercury, in turn becoming passive, conceives and
bears an offspring more perfect than either parent.
And when that light is again taken and given to a
proper recipient, it is made a thousand times more fit
and apt to bring forth excellent and abundant fruits.
Fac ex mare et foemina circulum ; inde quadrangulum ; hinc
triangulum, fac circulum, et habebis lapidem philosophorum.^
For beyond all the four precedent degrees of per-
fection there is made a Fifth Essence, which neuter
from all, yet partaking of all in perpetuity of union,
the Ethereal Quadrangle becomes a Circle of golden
light in eternity ; being advanced into the order of
^ Sendivogius, New Light, Treatise v. ; Kubnrath, Amph. Sap.,
cap. viii.
- Maieri Atalanta Fugiens, Emblema xxi.
3JIjClAJ2jZ
362 Laws and Conditions.
spirits permanent, which, though they have bodies, yet
are not subject to those laws of gross corporeity
which fetter bodies unregenerate. And therefore the
philosopher's Mercury is a system of wonders ponde-
rous, fixed, and, as a petrifaction from water is, ex-
(j[uisitely compact; yet penetrative wdthal and com-
municative of tincture ; for it can pass, as it were, in the
twinkling of an eye to the very centre, and, projected
on the imperfect metal of any life, dissolves it, draw-
ing away the very foundation into itself. Thus the
author of Luctrna Halls describes the gold of the
Wise to be by no means vulgar gold ; but it is a certain
water clear and pure, on which is borne the lightning
of the Lord ; and it is from thence that all things receive
their life. And this is the reason, continues he, why
our gold is become spiritual ; by means of the spirit
it passeth through the Alembic, its earth remaining
black, w^liich however did not appear before, but now
dissolves itself and becomes a thick luater. The which
desires a more noble life, to the end it may be able to
7'ejoin itself. By reason of the thirst it has, it dis-
solves and is dissevered, which benefits it very much ;
because if it did not become water and oil, its spirit
and soul could not unite nor mingle with it, as it then
does ; and in such a manner that of them One Thing is
made which rises to a consummate perfection ; the
parts thereof being so firmly joined together that they
can never after be separated.^
This then is the Conjunction in which all the mys-
teries of the Microcosm have their consummation —
the true circulated Form of Gold ; the Conjunction, by
Kipley called tctraptive, that so highly commended
fountain of Pythagoras, and Divine Tetractys.
"VVhouco all our Wisdom springs, and which contains
Perennial Nature's fountain, cause, and root.^
Tetractys, fourfold, drawn from three heads by the
' Lucerua Salis, p. 39 ; from tlie Latin verse, Aurum Sapienttim,
&c.
- Jamblicus's Life of Pythagoras, chap, xxviii.
I
Manifestation of the Matter. 363
obstetric hand of the physico-chemical Art and with-
out possibiUty of dissolution any more ; for those prin-
ciples so joined together of God, man cannot any more
put asunder.
There is no liglit but what lives in the Sun,
There is no sun but which is twice begott ;
Nature and Arte the parents first begonne :
By Nature t'was but Nature perfects not.
Arte then, what Nature left, in hand doth take.
And out of one a twofold worke doth make.
A twofold work doth make, but such a work
As dotli admitt Division none at all,
(See here wherein the secret, most doth lurke,)
IJnless it be a mathematical.
It must be two yet make it one and one,
And you do take the way to make it none.
Lo here, the primar secret of this Arte,
Contemne it not, but understand it right.
Who faileth to attaine the foremost part.
Shall never know Arte' s force or Nature's might.
Nor yet have power of one and one, so mixt,
To make by one fixt, one unfixed fixt.^
Here again the geometric method of procedure
with the Metaphysical Embryo, through its complex
parts, is epigrammatically symbolized by the Adept
Michael Majer.
Poemina masque unus ^ost tibi circulus, ex quo
Surgat^ habens »quum forma quadrata latus. /
Hinc Trigonum ducas, omni qui parte r^tundam / 0>
In sphferam redeat : tum Lapis oetus ehit. ' j
Si res tanta tuae non mox venit obvia menti,
Dogma Geometree si capis, Omne scies.^
He therefore who discovers the Quadrature, and on
this ground is able to demonstrate it, will have a
reward sufficient without the University patronage or
a more laborious proof. For having resolved all sorts
and ideas of things, all thoughts, passions, and actions
to one and the same Principle, he will not alone have
1 Enigma Philosophicum, Ashmole's Theatrum, p. 423.
- Maieri Atalanta Fugiens, Epigramma xxi.
364 Laws and Conditions.
that Principle, and be able to compose and renumerate
every former particular out of the same ; but, accord-
ing to the philosophic report, he will be percipient of
the most beautiful and Universal Mystery of Nature ;
having before himself, as in a glass, the great Arche-
typal Law of Light, in which are all things causally
ranged in the order in which they were originally dis-
tributed and set apart. As, in the Pimander and Book
of Wisdom, we read, — The whole world is before thee,
O God ! as a little grain of the balance, as a moment
of the little tongue in the weights and scales, and as
a drop of the dew that falleth in the morning upon
the earth. ^ — Perfect in the Microcosmic Unit as in the
total Deity of the Great World. For no sooner, it is
said, does the Divine Light pierce to the ho.som of the
matter, but the pattern of the whole Universe appears
in those Subject Waters, as an image in a glass, con-
ceived and divided forth in all the vastness of ideal
distinction and effulgence upon that glorious meta-
physical height where the Archetype shadows the
intellectual spheres.
Tu cuncta superno
Ducis ab exemplo pulchrum pulcherrimus ipse
Mundum mente gerens, siuiilique iu imagine formas,^
Tell me, ye celestial powers ! How first the gods
and world were made ? The rivers and boundless sea
1 Chap. xi. ver. 22.
•^ And this appearance of tlie Universal Idea iu the mind is
singularly corroborated iu tliat spiritual analysis of ordinary bodies
whicli Paracelsus and Van llelmout allude to, saying, that by se-
l)aration of their parts the specific impress is to be perceived iu
the vessel containing the decomposed spirit, and that the whole
creature may be als(} resuscitated from thence — these are the words
of ISIarci, in his Defensio Idearum Operatricium. Quid qua?so di-
cerunt hi tanti philosophi, si plantam quasi memento nasci iu vi-
treo vase viderent, cum suis ad vivum coloribus, et rursum inte-
rire, et renasci, idque quoties, et quaudo luberet ? Credo dae-
monum arte magica inclusum dicerent illudere seusibus humanis.
Such an impress liowever,wliether real or fictitiously represented,
would be but as a secondary vestimeut or witness of that which is
iu the Archetypal mind creatively efficient.
Manifestation of the Matter. 365
with its raging surge ? How the bright shining stars
and the wide stretched heaven above, and all the
gods that spring from them, givers of good things ?
First of all existed Chaos ; next in order the broad
bosomed Matter ; and then Love appeared, the most
beautiful of the Immortals. Of Chaos sprung Erebus
and dusky Night, and of Night came Ether and smihng
Day.^
The theogony of Hesiod, though long esteemed a
mere poetical fiction, was accepted by the ancient phi-
losophers, who quote his language ; and the Epic Cycle
is said, by the Platonists, to include the true philosophic
secret of the creation. And when set in comparison
with the Alchemical descriptions, the above passage ap-
pears indeed to be very regular and correct ; as also the
continued imagery of the poet, indicative of the several
estates of the Ethereal Quintessences arising one above
another, called forth by the light and heat of the
superincumbent mind, as posterity from a common
parent. Indeed, the more closely we compare the cos-
mogonies of the ancients, the more consistent do they
appear one with another, and less so with the common-
place imagination of things : insomuch that the learned
have judged them to be copied from some one original,
or that the Mosaic was the only revealed truth of all.
We are not disposed to rest anything on our own
assertion, but neither should we be less inclined to
reverence the received Scripture, if it should prove, at
any time, that those agreeing with it, were not bor-
rowed ; but all originated from the same divine source.
In the Beginning — in that inane Identity — fi*om that
silent dead obscurity — when as yet nothing is fashioned
in the dissolute chasm of life — the Divine Will, then
alone operating, says the (Cabalistic Interpreter, pro- r\
duces itself into a material form and recreation. — Be- -
hold, I deliver thee of an awful birth and progeny of
the ever living God, revealed only to the favourites of
Heaven and ministers of His Mysterious Will.^
1 Hesiod, Epic Cycle, The Weeks and the Days.
2 Blackwell's Mythology, letter vii.
366 Laws and Conditions.
And these were a part of the lesson taught by the
Memphian prophet to the young Asph'ant to the priest-
hood, even the most hidden mysteries of God's creation.
And how did he teach? By words merely, or signs, or
traditional authority ? Or, if none of these can truly
teach the understanding ; shall we say, more probably,
by passing it inwards to the evolution of its proper
mystery, thence to emanate and recreate ? When the
initiated poet Ovid sat down to write his Fasti, he was
inspired, as he declares, by that same universal deity of
the two-faced Janus.
Me Chaos antiqui, nam res sum prisca, vocabaut.
Adspice, quam longi temporis acta canam.
Lucidus bic Aer, et, qua? ti'ia corpora restant.
Ignis, aquae, tellus, unus acervus erant.
Ut semel baec rerum secessit lite suarum,
Inque novas abiit massa soluta domos ;
riamma petit altum ; propior locus aei-a cepit :
Sederunt medio terra fretumque solo.
Tunc Ego, qui fueram globus, et sine imagine moles,
In faciem redii dignaque membra Deo.
Nunc quoque, coufusae quondam nota parva figura;,
Ant^ quod est in me, postque, videtur idem.
Accipe, qufesitae quae caussa sit altera formae ;
Hanc simul ut noris, ofBciumque meum;
Quidquid ubique vides, ccelum, mare, nubila, terras.
Omnia sunt nostra clausa patentque Manu.^
When the primaeval parent Chaos, hoary, as the
Egyptian figure runs, with unnumbered ages, was first
moved by the breath of Erebus, she brought forth her
enormous first-born Hyle, and, at the same portentous
birth, the amiable Eros, chief of the Immortals.
They were no sooner come to Light than they pro-
duced an infinite offspring, various and undefined at
first, but afterwards fountains of Being. And know,
consecrated Youth, adds the metropolitan of Mem-
phis, that ere this fair universe which thou beholdest
appeared ; ere the sun mounted on high, or the moon
gave her paler light ; ere the vales were stretched
out below, or the mountains reared their towering
^ Ovidii Fastorum, lib. i. 104.
Manifestation of the Matter. 3G7
heads; ere the winds began to blow, or plants had
sprung forth out of the earth ; while the heavens yet
lay hid in the mighty mass, or ere a star had dart-
ed to its orb ; the various parts of which this won- /7
drous frame consists lay^^^d and inform, brood- ?rviynOAJi^
ing overwhelmed in the Abyss of Being. There it <y
had lain for ever, if the breath of the tremendous
spirit that dwells in the Darkness had not gone forth
and put the lifeless mass in agitation.
Si/e hunc divino semine fecit
Ille opifex reriim, mundi melioris origo :
Sive recens tellus seductaqiie nuper ab alto
^there, cognati retinebat semina coeli ;
Quam satus lapeto mistam fluvialibus undis
Finxit in effigiem moderantum cuncta deorum.^
It was then the congenial -^o^s- began to dissever
from their heterogeneous associates, and to seek a
mutual embrace : Matter appeared : and inseparable
from it attraction instantly began to operate, O ! who
can unfold or sufficiently declare the strife ineffable,
the unutterable war, that attended their operation.'^
— To whom hath the root of Wisdom been revealed, or
who hath known her wise counsels ? unto whom hath
the knowledge of Wisdom been made manifest ? and
who hath understood her great Experience ? There is
One Wise and greatly to be feared, the Lord sitting
upon his throne. He created her and numbered her,
and poured her out upon all his works. She is with
all flesh according to his gift, and he hath given her
to them that love him.^
And Solomon, with matchless eloquence and beauty
that remains unrivalled, celebrates the revelation of
that Living Light which became known to him, with
the mysteries of universal creation, not by outward
teaching or rational inference from effects, but by the
Conscious Intuition, as he relates it, of only night. . oi^t/
A
1 Ovid. Motam., lib i.
2 Blackwell's Mytliology, letter vii.
^ Ecclesiasticus, i. G, 7, 8, &c.
368 Laws and Conditions.
God hath given to me, says the Wise King, a certain
knowledge of the things that are, namely, to know
how the world was made, and the operations of the
elements. The beginning, ending, and midst of the
times ; the alterations and turning of the sun ; and the
changes of the seasons. The circuits of years and
position of the stars. The natures of living creatures
and the furies of wild beasts, the violence of winds and
the reasonings of men ; the diversities of plants and
the virtues of roots. And all such things as are either
secret or manifest, them I know. For Wisdom, which
is the Worker of all things, taught me. In her is an
U72derstanding spirit — holy, only begotten, manifold,
subtle, lively, clear, undefiled, plain, not subject to
hurt, loving the thing that is good : quiet, which
cannot be letted, ready to do good, kind to man, stead-
fast, free from care, having all power, overseeing all
things, and going through all understanding, pure and
most subtle spirits.^
And such a Wisdom (shall we not believe it?)
was the worthy object of all Hermetic Philosophy,
and the miraculous substance of its transmutativc
Stone. Or what, do we ask, is the Philosopher's
Stone ? The philosopher's stone, says the mys-
terious adeptist, is Ruach Elohim, which moved
upon the face of the waters, the firmament being in
the midst, conceived and made body, truly and sensibly,
in the virgin womb of the greater world, viz., that
Earth which is without fnin and water. The Son,
born into the light of the macrocosm, mean and of no
account in the eyes of the vulgar, consubstantial
nevertheless, and like his father the lesser world,
setting aside all idea of anything individually human :
universal, triune, hermaphrodite ; visible, sensible to
hearing, to smell, local and finite; made manifest luj
itself regeneratively by the obstetric hand of the Phy-
sico-Chemical AjH : glorified in his once assumed body,
for benefits and uses almost infinite ; wonderfully salu-
tary to the microcosm and to the macrocosm in uni-
1 Wiadom of Solomon, vii. 9.
i
I
Manifestation of the Matter. 369
versal triunity. The Salt of Saturn, the Universal
son of Nature, has reigned, does reign, and will reign
naturally and universally in all things ; always and
everywhere universal through its own fusibility, self-
existent in nature. Hear and attend ! Salt, that
most ancient principle of the Stone ; whose nucleus in
the Decad guard in holy silence. Let him who hath
understanding understand ; I have spoken it — not
without weighty cause has Salt been dignified with
the name of Wisdom : than which, together with the
Sun, nothing is found more useful.^
But what explanation is this ? it will be objected ;
a baffling about of terms, ignotum jyer ignotiws. Truly,
and thus it has been the custom of philosophers
to ring the changes from Wisdom to their Stone,
and from the Stone to Wisdom, through every ima-
ginable note and echoing cadence in variation, round to
the same again : but the world has become no wiser
for their song. For how hardly should words avail,
even the most significant, to convey a tangible idea of
that which is beyond and inverse to all sensible expe-
rience ; which is neither hard nor soft, nor tangible
nor visible, nor comprehensible by common sense,
until thought, by understanding (as light by the focus
of the familiar lens, producing combustion), has
brought it forth into effect and flame ?
Thus considering the inverse problem, analogically
however, we arrive at a more familiar conception, as
reason assists the imagination to a solution of its own
intimate mystery in life.
The centre of every Being is a spirit from the ori-
ginal of the world ; and the separation of this is con-
stantly enacted in generation, whence every creature
is brought through experience into life and operation.
And so far we stand even now in the great mystery,
in the Mother of all Beings ; but by the corporeal, i.e.
the sensual principle which is predominant in the
mundane conception, the divine original is obscured
^.j&d?nrath, Amphitlieat. Sap. Etern., Isag. in fig.
B B
/<A.
370 Laws and Conditions.
and separated off from the consciousness ; and the indi-
vidual subsists, as a distinct self-spiration, sevcration,
or outbirth, as it were, from that Fontal Reason
whence it springs. But in the regeneration this Rea-
son is said to be discovered, as, upon the dissolution
of the natural Ufe, it arises, through the self-perceiv-
ance, with creative attributes and powers. Let us
hear the testimony of Hermes concerning his own in-
timate experience in the divine Poemander, figuratt^dy
set forth as follows : —
My thoughts, being once seriously busied about the
things that be, and my understanding lifted up, — all
my bodily senses being entirely holden back ; me-
thought I saw one of an exceeding great stature, and
infinite greatness, call me by name, and say to me,
What wouldst thou hear and see ? And what wouldst
thou understand to learn and know? Then said I,
Who art thou? I am, quoth he, Poemander, the
Mind of the Great Lord, the most mighty and abso-
lute Emperor. I know what thou wouldest have, and
I am always present with thee. Then, said I, I would
learn the things that are, and understand the nature of
them, and know God. How? said he. I answered,
that I would gladly hear. Then, said he : Have me
again in thy mind, and whatsoever thou wouldest
learn, I will teach thee.
When he had thus said, he was changed i?i his
Idea or Form, and straightway, in the twinkling
of an eye, all things were opened to me ; and I saw
an infinite Light, all things were become Light, both
siveet and exceeding pleasant. And I was wonder-
fully dehghted in the beholding it. But after a Httle
while, there was a darkness made in part, coming
down obliquely, fearful, and hideous, which seemed
unto me to be changed into a certain moist nature
unspeakably troubled, which yielded a smoke, as from
fire; and there proceeded a voice unutterable, and
very mournful, but articulate; insomuch, that it
seemed to have come from the IJglit. Then from
that Light a certain holy Word joined itself unto
Manifestation of the Matter. 371
Nature, and out flew the pure and unmixed fire from
the moist nature upward on high. It was exceeding
light, sharp, and operative withal, and the air, which
was also light, followed the spirit, and mounted up
with the Fire (from the earth and water created below)
insomuch, that it seemed to hang and depend upon it ;
and the earth and ivater stayed by themselves, so
mingled together, that the earth could not be seen for
the water ; but they were moved because of the Spi-
ritual Word that was carried upon them.
Then said Poemander unto me, Dost thou under-
stand this, and what it meaneth ? I shall know, said I,
Then said he, / am that Light, the ]\Iind, thy God,
who am before that moist nature, that appeared out
of the darkness, and that bright and hghtfal Word
from the Mind is the Son of God. How is that? quoth
I. Thus, replied he, understand it. That which,
in thee, seeth and heareth the Word of the Lord, and
the Mind, the Father, God, differ not one from ano-
ther, and the union of these is life. I thank thee :
But first, said Poemander, Conceive well the Light in
thy Mind, and Know It.
And when he had thus said, for a long time lue
looked stedfastly one upon the other, insomuch, that
I trembled at his Idea or Form : But when he nodded
to me, I beheld in my mind, the Light that is innu-
merable, and the truly indefinite ornament or world,
and that the fire is comprehended or contained in
and by a most great Power, and constrained to keep its
station.
These things I understood, seeing the Word of
Pcemander, and when I was mightily amazed, he said
again unto me; Hast thou seen that Archetypal Form,
which was before the interminated and infinite be-
ginning ? But whence, quoth 1, or whereof are the
elements of nature made ? Of the Will and Counsel of
God, he answered, ivhich taking the Word and behold-
ing the beautiful world in the Archetype thereof, imi-
tated it, and so made this world by the same princi-
ples and vital seeds, or soul-like production of itself.
B B 2
372 Laws and Conditions.
And straightway, God said to the Holy Word, in-
crease increasingly, and multiply in multitude, all ye
my creatures, and workmanships. And let him that
is endued ivith Alind know himself to be immortal ;
and that the cause of death is the /o?;e of body, and let
him learn all things that are of which he is made.
If therefore thou learn in this way, and believe thy-
self to be of the Life and Light, thou shalt pass back
into Life.
But tell me more, O my Mind ! how I shall go into
Life J* God saith, let the man endued ivith Mind, mark,
consider, and knoiv himself well. Have not all men a
mind? Have a heed what thou sayest, for I, the
Mind, come into men that are holy and good, and
pure and merciful, and that live piously and religi-
ously, and mij presence is a help unto them ; and forth-
with they know all things, and lovingly, they suppli-
cate and propitiate the Father, and blessing Him, they
give Him thanks and sing hymns unto Him ; being
ordered and directed by tilial affection and natural
love ; and before they give up their bodies to the death
of them, they hate their senses, knowing their works
and operations ; or, rather, I that am the Mind itself,
will not suffer the works or operations which belong
to the body to be finished in them ; but being the
Porter and Door-keeper, 1 shut up the entrance of evil,
and cut off the thoughtful desires of filthy works.
But to the foolish, and evil, and wicked, and envious,
and covetous, and murderers, and profane, / am far
off, giving place to the revenging Demon, which, apply-
ing unto him the sharpness of Jire, tormenteth such a
man sensibly, and armeth him the more to all wicked-
ness, that he may obtain the gi*eater punishment ;
and such a one never ceaseth unfulfiUable desires, and
insatiable concupiscences, and always fighting in dark-
ness ; for the Demon afflicts and torments him, con-
tinually increasing the Fire upon him more and more.
Thou hast, O Mind, said I, most excellently taught
me all things, as I desired ; but tell me moreover, after
the return is made, what then? First of all, in the
Manifestation of the Matter. 373
resolution of the material body of sense, this body it-
self is given up to alteration, and the form which it
hath becometh invisible ; and the idle manners are per-
mitted and left to the Demon, and the senses of the
body return into their fountains (in the circulation) ;
being parts, and are again made up into operations ;
and anger and concupiscence remain lowest in the ir-
rational life, and the rest strive upward by harmony ;
until, being naked of all operations, it cometh to the
eighth sphere, which is Intellect, having its proper
power and singing praises to the Father, with the
things that are. And all they that are present rejoice
and congratulate the coming of It, being made like
to Him with whom It converseth ; It heareth also the
powers that are above the eighth nature, singing
praises to God in a certain voice that is peculiar to
them, and then in order they return to the Father
and to themselves.
When Poemander had thus said to me, he was
mingled among the Powers, but I, giving thanks,
and blessing the Father of all, rose up and being
enabled by Him, and taught the nature of the Whole,
and having seen the greatest Spectacle, I began
to preach unto men the beauty and fairness of piety
and knowledge ; and, becoming a guide unto many, I
sowed in them the words of Wisdom. And in my-
self I wrote the bounty and beneficence of Poemander,
and being filled with what I most desired, I was ex-
ceeding glad : — For the sleep of the body was the sober
watchfulness of the Mind; and the shutting of my eyes
the true Sight ; and my silence great with child and full
of good ; and the pronouncing of my words the blos-
soms and fruits of good things. — And thus it came
to pass, and happened unto me by Poemander, the Lord
of the Word, whereby I became inspired by God with
the Truth. For which cause with my soul and whole
strength, I give praise and blessing unto God the Fa-
ther.— Holy is God the Father of all things ! Holy is
God whose will is performed and accomphshed by His
own Powers ; Holy is God that determineth to be
374 Laws and Conditions.
known; and is known of his own, and those that are
His ! Holy art thou, that by thy Word hast esta-
bhshed all things ! Holy art thou, of whom all nature
is the Image! Holy art thou, whom nature hath not
formed ! Holy art thou, that art stronger than all
strength ! Holy art thou, that art greater than all
excellency ! Holy art thou, that art better than all
praise ! O thou unspeakable ! unutterable ! to be
praised in silence. I beseech thee that I may never
err from the knowledge of thee ; look mercifuUj'' upon
me and enable me, and enlighten with thy grace all
that are in ignorance, the brothers of my kind, but thy
Sons. Therefore I beseech thee, and bear witness, and
go into the Light and Life. Blessed art thou, O Fa-
ther ! Thy man would be sanctified with thee, as thou
hast given him all Power. ^
To such testimony we are unable to add anything
that would render the operative revelation of Intellect
more obvious, or its experimental knowledge more
credible to the uninitiated. They who cannot imagine
will disbelieve without experience ; but others there
may be, at this day even, in whom the flame of thought
burns broad and clear, who having within them a sub-
stantial evidence of the thing hoped for, will believe and
know too, long before sensible observation shall have
forced the many to a faith which, in the Intuition
alone, is blessed. But if any one wish to discover the
First Principle, according to the doctrine of the an-
cients, he must be theurgically prepared, and pass
through many preliminary ordeals, corrosive tests, and
fiery solutions and dissolutions refining, in order to
raise himself to That which is the most united in
nature, and to its Flower, and That through which
it is Deity ; by which it is suspended from its
proper fountain, and connects and causes the Uni-
verse to have a sym})athetic consent with Itself.
— And if k called them gods unto whom the Word of
^ The Diviue Poemander of Hermes Trismegistus, book ii.
Manifestation of the Matter. 375
God came, and the Scripture cannot be broken, say
ye of Him whom the Father hath sanctified and sent
into the world, thou blasphemest, because I said I am
the Son of God?^ Does not all our unbelief, as the
common faith, arise in ignorance ? For at present there
is no profound understanding of the Scriptures ; nor
does any look, as Agrippa says, under the Bark of the
Law. But even unto this day, when Moses is read,
the veil is upon their heart. Nevertheless, when it
shall turn to the Lord, says the Apostle, the veil shall
be taken away. For the Lord is that Spirit, and
where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. We
all, with open face beholding, as in a glass, the glory of
the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory
to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.^ —
Unhappy, truly tlierefore he is said to be, who regards
the Law as a mere simple recital, or in the light of
an ordinary discourse, for if in truth it were no-
thing more than this ; one could even be composed
at this day more worthy of admiration. In order ..
to find such mere words, observes the l^abalist, we /\
have only to turn to the legislators of this world, ^=^
who have frequently expressed themselves with more
grandeur and grace. It would suffice to imitate them,
and make expedient laws after their fashion. But
it is not thus ; each word of the Law has a mean-
ing and cloaks a mystery entirely sublime. The story
of the Law is the vestment of the Law ; unhappy he,
who mistakes the vestment for the Law itself. The
wise attend not to the outer clothing of things, but to
the body which it covers ; the sages and servants of
the Supreme King, those who dwell on the heights of
Sinai, are occupied only about the Soul, which is the
basis of all the rest ; which is the Law itself; so that
they may be prepared at length to contemplate and
know that Soul which breathes in the Law.^ Without
which nothing is truly known, whose Experience is All.
1 St. Jolm's Gospel, x.
2 1 Corinth, iii. 15, &c.
^ Zohar, part iii. fol. 152, verso ; Frank, p. 165 ; Origeu Homil.
7. iu Levit.
376 Laws and Conditions.
Moreover, says St. Paul, I would not that ye should
be ignorant, how that all our Fathers were under the
cloud, and all passed through the sea ; and were all
baptized unto iMoses in the cloud and in the sea ; and
did all eat the same spiritual meat, and did all drink
the same spiritual drink : for they drank of that spi-
ritual rock that followed them : and that rock was
Christ.^
And I advise thee, my son, says the Saint Synesius,
to make no account of other things ; labour only for
that Water which burns to blackness, dissolves and
congeals. It is that which putrefies and causes ger-
mination, and therefore I advise thee that thou wholly
employ thyself in the coction of this water, and demur
not at the expense of time ; otherwise thou shalt gain
no advantage. Decoct it geiitli/ by little and little,
until it have changed its false tincture into a perfect
form of light ; and have great care at the beginning,
that thou burn not its flowers and its vivacity, and
make not too much haste to come to an end of thy
work.*^ Shut thy vessel v;e\\. that it may not breathe out,
so that thou mayest bring it to some effect ;^ and note
that to dissolve, to calcine, to tinge, to whiten, to
renew, to bathe, to wash, to coagulate, to imbibe, to
decoct, to fix, to grind, to dry and to distil are all one,
and signify no more, than to decoct nature until such
time as she be perfected. Note further, that to extract
the soul, or the spirit, or the body, is nothing else than
the aforesaid calcinations in regard they signify the
operation of Venus. It is through the fire of the ex-
traction of the soul that the spirit comes forth gently ;
understand me, the same also may be said of the ex-
traction of the soul out of the body, and the reduction
of it afterwards upon the same body ; until the whole
be drawn to a commixion of the four elements, and
so that which is below, being like that which is above,
there arc made nuuiifest ttco luviitiaries, the one fixed,
1 1 Cor. X. \, 2, 3, 4.
2 See Lumen de Lumine, p. U6. Norton's Ordinal, cap. iii.
OS-f ^ Eiren^ua's Experiments, at the end of his Eipley Eevived, p.
f 6, &c, Norton, &c.
Manifestation of the Matter, 377
the other not ; whereof the fixed which is the male
remains below, and the volatile remains above, moving
itself perpetually, until that which is below rises upon
that which is above, and all being substantiated, there
then issues forth an incomparable Luminary.^
That was the Experiment that led our Fathers into
Experience, and illumination in the Divine Antecedent
of all life. And if experience be truly, as it is said
to be, the proper test of philosophy, then was not
tlieirs the right and true philosophy with Christian
regeneration for its most worthy end ? That was the
Art of Democritus commemorated by Lord Bacon in
a passage before quoted, but which, for its value's sake
ac well aa on account of the notoriety^, w^e take leave
to recite — That if any skilful minister of nature shall
apply force to matter, and by design torture and vex
it in order to its annihilation, it, on the contrary, being
brought under this necessity, changes and transforms
itself into a strange variety of shapes and appearances ;
so that at length, running through the whole circle of
transformations and completing its period, it restores
itself, if the force be continued. And that method of
binding, torturing, and detaining will prove most effec-
tual and expeditious which makes use of manacles and
fetters ; that is to say, lays hold of and works upon
matter in the extremest degrees,^ That is, in the last
exigence of life ; when it is about to be born again from
out the oblivion of this w^orld and its defilements, by
attraction of the recreative Light within.
Then she is Isis, the Divine I am, by the Greeks
called Myrionymous, or the goddess with a thousand
names ; hereby to denote the capacity with which such
a Matter is endowed of understanding, and of being
converted to all or any of the Forms or degrees of
specific Law, which it may please the Supreme Reason
to impress upon her. As respects herself, she is
Nothing; — no one apostate particular, — neither animal
1 From Synesius' True Book concerning the Philosopher's
Stone, in fine.
'^ Bacon's Wisdom of the Ancients, Fable of Proteus.
378 Laws and Conditions.
nor vegetable nor mineral apart ; but, — pre-existent to
them all, — she is the mother of all; and her birth, ac-
cording to the Adepts, is singular and not without a
miracle. Her very complexion is miraculous and dif-
ferent from every other whatsoever, and that which
she brings forth by the Fire of nature lawfully conceived,
is Orus, the Philosophic Sun. And hence, and from
the whole above, we may have gathered some approxi-
mating idea of the multinominal goddess appearing as
she was described by the initiated, who celebrated her
Mysteries in the Eleusinian fane, and further, as fol-
lows, by one of the no less intimately experienced
fraternity of the Rosy Cross.
I am a Goddess for beauty and extraction, famous,
born out of our oivn proper sea, which compasseth the
whole earth, and is ever restless. Out of my breasts
I pour forth milk and blood ; boil these two till they
are turned into silver and gold. O, most excellent sub-
ject ! out of which all things in the world are generated,
though at the first sight, thou art poison adorned with
the name of the flying eagle ; thou art the First
JMatter ; the Seed of Divine benediction, in whose bod if
there is heat and ra'ui ; which notwithstanding are
hidden from the icicked, because of thy habit and
virgin vestures, which are scattered over the whole
world. Thy parents are the Sun and Moon (philoso-
phical) ; in thee there is irate r and ivifie, and go/d also,
and silver upon the earth, that mortal man may re-
joice. After this manner God sends us his blessing
and wisdom with rain, and the beams of the sun, to
the eternal glory of his name. But consider, O man,
what things God bestows upon thee by these means.
Torture the Eagle till she iveeps ; and the Lion being
weakened, bleeds to death. The blood of this Lion in-
corporated with the tears of the Eagle is the treasure
of the whole earth. These creatures used (in their
circulatory course) to devour and kill one another ; but
notwithstanding this their love is mutual, and they
put on the property and nature of a Salamander ;
which, if it remains in the fire without any detriment,
Manifestation of the Matter. 379
cures all the diseases of men and metals. After that
the ancient philosophers had perfectly understood this
subject, tliey diligently sought in this mystery, for the
centre of the middlemost tree in the Terrestrial Para-
dise, entering in by fee litigious gates. The first gate
was the knoivledge of the true matter, and here arose
the first, and that a most bitter conflict. The second
was the preparation by which the matter was to be
qualified, that they might obtain the embers of the
eagle and the blood of the lion. At this gate there is
a most sharp fight, for it produceth water and blood,
and a spiritual bright body. The third gate is the
Jire which conduceth to the maturity of the medicine.
The fourth gate is that of multiplication and augmen-
tation in which proportions and weights are necessary.
The fifth and last gate is projection. But most glo-
rious, full, rich, and highly elevated is he who at-
tains but to the fourth gate ; for he has got an uni-
versal medicine for all diseases. This is the great
character of the book of Nature, out of which
her whole alphabet doth arise. The fifth gate serves
only for metals. This mystery, existing from the
foundation of the world and the creation of Adam, is
of all others the most ancient ; a knowledge which
God Almighty, by his Word, breathed into nature; a
miraculous power, the blessed Fire of Life ; the trans-
parent carbuncle and red gold of the Wise men, and
the divine benediction of this life. But this mystery,
because of the malice and wickedness of men, is given
only to few ; notwithstanding it lives and moves every
day in the sight of the whole world, as it appears also
by the following parable : —
I am a poisonous dragon, present everywhere, and
to be had for nothing. My water and my fire dissolve
and compound ; out of my body thou shalt draw the
green and red lion : but if thou dost not exactly know
me, thou wilt with my fire destroy thy Jive senses. A
most pernicious quick poison comes out of my nostrils,
which hath been the destruction of many. Separate,
therefore, the thick from the thin art'Jicially, unless
380 Laws and Conditions.
thou dost delight in extreme poverty. I give thee
faculties both male and female, and the powers both of
heaven and earth. The mysteries of my art are to be
performed magnan'imoudy and with great courage, if
thou wouldest have me overcome the violence of the
Jire, in which attempt many have lost their labour and
their substance. / am the Egg of Nature, known
onlij to the Wise, such as are pious and modest, who
make of me a little world. Ordained was I, by the
Almighty God, for men ; but though many desire me,
I am given only to a few^, that they may relieve the
poor with my treasures, and not set their mind on
gold i\\(it perisheth. I am called of the philosophers
Mercury : my husband is Gold philosojjhical. I am
the Old Dragon that is present everywhere on the face
of the earth. I am father and mother, youthful and
antique, weak yet powerful, life and death, visible and
invisible, hard and soft, descending to the earth and
ascending to the heavens, most high and most low,
light and heavy. In me the order of nature is often-
times inverted in colour, number, weight, and mea-
sure. I am, within, the Light of nature; I am dark and
bright ; I spring from the earth and I come out of
heaven ; I am well known and yet a mere nothing ; all
colours shine in me and all metals, by the beams of
the Sun ; I am the carbuncle of the Sun, a most noble
clarified Earth, by which thou mayest turn copper,
iron, tin, and lead into most pure gold.^
Involve we then our thoughts, if we would intrin-
sically conceive the wonderful Nature that is set before
us ; and in however small a proportion the grain of
faith be naturally allotted, if it be but real, let us be-
lieve in it, and nourish and educate, that it may
increase with knowledge, and finally prove its own
reward in practical experience : without faith, without
the ideal conception, nothing is or can be proven ; for
is not this, in fact, the leader of all experimental in-
quiry? The faith we invite is no blind credulity, but
^ As g;iven in tlie Coelum Terrse of Vaughan, from the Latin
original of the Fraternity.
Manifestation of the Matter. 381
such a liberty of thought, as, bearing its own evidence
independently of common observation, can glance be-
yond this boundary into the integral probability of
Life. Such a faith, however small or insufficient of
itself, will lead on, by a proper pursuit, unto the thing
hoped for, and bring to evidence the occult Causality
of Nature : and be it for gold, then, or science, or health, / /
or higher purity and wisdom ,^ie is inquiring on this a ^^
basis — w^e repeat it — the percipient right-believer will
not be deceived.
The Matter of all things is One and proved simple
in the experience ; throughout all her various manifes-
tations— as agent, patient, hot, cold, dry, moist ; by
whatever colour, quality , or species designated — whether
singular or plural in manifestation, Nature remains
one and the same Unknown Identity through all ; • /? ^
neither water, air, earth nor gold is a&-€oaapifeeti8^ czyt/^CTLUt
bat every tyro in chemistry concludes they are no ele-
ments ; but Her, the true element, they have never
found ; for she eludes their tests and closest vessels ;
all except those of her own ethereally wise construction,
in which she bears her Universal Offspring, hermeti-
cally sealed through the flood and wreck of this dis-
solute existence to a resurrection always glorious, and
immortal at last.
.ELIA L.IILIA CEISPIS.
Nec vir, nee mulier, nee androgyna,
Nee puella, nee juvenis, nee anus,
Nee easta, nee meretrix, nee pudiea,
Sed omnia !
Sublata neque fame, neque ferro, neque
Veneno, sed omnibus !
Nee coelo, nee terris, nee aquis,
Sed ubique jacet !
LUCIUS AGATHO PBTSCUS.
,Nec maritus, nee amator, nee neeessarius,
Neque moerens, neque gaudens, neque flens,
Hane
Neque molem, neque pyramidem, neque sepulerum,
Sed omnia/
Seit et neseit eui posuerit^
Hoe est sepulerum certe, cadaver
Non habens, sed cadaver idem,
Est et sepulerum !
382 Laws and Conditions.
iELiA l.i;lia crispis.
Nor male, nor female, nor hermaplirodite,
Nor virgin, woman, young or old.
Nor chaste, nor liarlot, modest liiglit.
But all of tlicm you're told —
Not killed by poison, famine, sword,
But eacli one had its share,
Not in heaven, earth, or water broad
It lies, but everywhere !
LUCIUS AGATHO PRISCUS.
No husband, lover, kinsman, friend,
Eejoicing, sorrowing at life's end.
Knows or knows not, for whom is placed
This — what ? This pyramid, so raised and graced,
This grave, this sepulchre ? 'Tis neither,
'Tis neither — but 'tis all and each together.
Without a body I aver,
This is in truth a sepulchre ;
But notwithstanding, I proclaim
Both corpse and sepulchre the same !
All is identical — need we repeat it ? — ^in the Uni-
versal Identity, and every possible assertion of it will
be true, and the reverse in annihilation. All life,
body, soul, and spirit — the three hypostatic relations —
are born in it, one out of another ; conjoin, die, and are
mortified, one within the other ; are fortified and in-
creased, the one by the other ; differing only, in respect
«tib^fr oneetf tlie other, as agent, patient, and that
universal offspring which is the All in all, without
foreign admixture: as it is written, — Thou hast dis-
posed all things, in number, and weight, and measure. —
For these are the length, and breadth, and profundity
of Nature, which the Spirit in her emanative Law dis-
plays ; from the point proceeding into the line, from
the root into the square superficies, and from the
square by multiplication into that cubic form which is
the supernatural foundation of the New physical Whole.
The battle's fought, the conquest won,
The Lyon dead revived ;
The Eagle's dead which did him slay.
And both of sense deprived.
The showers cease, the dews, which fell
For six weeks, do not rise ;
Tlie ugly toad, that did so swell,
With swelling, bursts and dies.
Manifestation of the Matter. 383
The Argent field with. Or is stained,
With violet intermixed ;
The sable blacJce is not disdained
Which shows the spirit's fixed ;
The compound into atoms turned,
The seeds together blended,
Tlie flying soul to th' earth returned,
The soaring bird descended.
Tlie king and queen contumulate,
And joined as one together.
That which before was two by fate
Is tyed, which none can sever.
Tlie king is brother to his wife,
And she to him is mother ;
One father is to both, whose life
Depends upon each other.
The one when dead, the other dies,
And both are laid in grave ;
The coffins one in which both lies,
Each doth the other save :
Tet each the other doth destroy,
And yet both are amended ;
One without th' other hath no joy.
Both one, of one descended.
Twice forty days do come and go,
To which twice five are added ;
These do produce a perfect crow,
Whose blackness cheers hearts sadded ;
Twice fifteen more produce a dove,
Whose wings are bright and tender ;
Twice ten more make the so^d above
To need no fire defender ;
For soul and body so combine.
The spirit interceding,
Tincture to give of silver fine,
The sold, the body, inleading.
Also such fixity to add
Against the flames prevailing,
Which may the chymist make full glad,
The sophist er still failing,
Who seeks infancies for to find
Our Art so much concealed,
Not duly weighing in his mind
That 't is a fountain sealed,
Which one thing only can unlocke ;
This one thing learn to know.
Lest you the same event should mock,
That these same lines do show.^
^ Eirenrfus's Eipley Revived, p. 188, &c.
^0^1
384 Laws and Conditions.
The same tradition of the manifold powers and
preservation of the One Thing runs in symhol
throughout the Gentile Mythology, and the Arkite
Mysteries have reference to the physical secret of the
regeneration throughout. The god, dead and revived,
is a principal character in all their ceremonial rites —
Cadmillus amongst the Cabiri, Atys in Phrygia,
Adonis in Lydia, Osiris amongst the Egyptians.
Once too by Thee, as sacred poets sing,
The heart of Bacchus, swiftly slaughtered king.
Was saved in iEther when, by fury fired,
The Titans fell against his life conspired ;
And with relentless rage and thirst for gore
Their hands his members into fragments tore.
But ever watchful on thy Father's will,
Thy power preserved him from succeeding ill,
Till from the secret counsels of his Sii'e,
And born from Semele thro' heavenly fire.
Great Dionysius to the world at length
Again appeared with renovated strength.
Once too thy warlike axe with matchless sway
Lopped from their savage necks the heads away
Of furious beasts, and thus the pests destroyed
Which long all-seeing Hecate annoyed.
By thee benevolent, great Juno's might
AVas roused to furnish mortals with delight ;
And thro' life's wide and various range 'tis thine.
Each part to beautify with arts di\dne.
Invigorated hence, by thee we find
A demiurgic impulse in the mind ;
Towers proudly raised and for protection strong,
To thee dread guardian Deity belong.
As proper symbols of th' exalted height,
Thy series claims amidst the courts of Light. ^
All the heroes are reported to have passed through
an ordeal of the same kind ; — Cadmus, Deucalion,
Osiris, Bacchus, Hercules, Orpheus, &c. — and to have
gained wonderful powers and advantages thereby.
All their adventures, indeed, are so many records of
the difficulties and dangers that the soul must endure
overcoming her household enemies within the strong-
' Proclus'a Hymn to Minerva, by Taylor, in his Sallnst.
Manifestation of the Matter. 385
hold of life. Nor are they few, but many and fearful
ones that have to be encountered ; for those passions,
desires, vices, which to our deadened conscience are
trifling and palliable, when viewed within the senses'
prison, by the revealed light of equilibriate justice, are
monstrous ; and, without )( metaphor, in their imaged
atmosphere appear terrific : and in the divine lan-
guage of Poemander, do force the inwardly placed man
to suffer sensibly. For they do not suddenly depart,
or easily, even from him in whom the exemplary
virtue is revealed ; but, as we may remember in the
early tradition of the Mysteries, the material inflictors
are roused to vengeance by the decrees of fate against
the rebels of her laws ; nor is it any trifling exertion
which the will has to make to overcome the compact
which it has made with sense ; but herein consists the
meritorious struggle of the powers, until, by artificial
force of heat and exhalation, the Light, so long
hidden and enshrined in the Archeus, comes forth
as a dry splendour, surviving through all. And
this is that Tincture of the Sapphiric Mine before
alluded to, and that Subtendent which is found se-
minally equal to the whole of the parts whence it is
derived. In hdc aqua rosa latet hiejiie ; in this
water, when destruction has done its worst with the
elements of life, the principle of all is artificially pre-
served, as Noah in the ark, who, surviving, was able
to renew all things out of the remnant of creation that
was saved therein ; that elect remnant, worthy the
sacrifice that was made even of the whole corruptible
humanity, that has power to reproduce all and each
with tenfold perfection and increase out of itself.
Thus Wisdom is the perpetual theme of early
poetry, and though unknown to modern philosophy, the
ground of ancient science ; of theology, the true End
and proper subject of Divinity. For this Wisdom is
the vehicle of the Catholic Reason in Identity, the
bearer and measure of the Demiurgic Fire — that Fire
which the sensual conception occultates, and so for-
c c
386 Laws and Conditions.
cibly restricts, that man does not suspect it even ;
but in his wiUing thraldom, fancies himself at hberty, ^
not knowing in truth what it is to be free i\when, the S-
integral efficience of this Identity set in motion,
effects follow the voluntary Axle in a necessitous full
accord. — That was Free Will, not the motiveless chi-
mera which human fancy has been prone to coin, but
the operative Almighty Magnet freed from Tartarean
bondage and obscurity, and drawn upward to the glo-
rious consciousness of the revolving Light above.
And the whole secret of this discovery, it would
seem, consists in the sanguinary circulation of the
Vital Spirit ; in which there is a threefold Law, as
before explained, which has to be revolutionized also
in three periods ; called by the Alchemists, for certain
accurate reasons, Altitude, Latitude, and Profundity:
Altitude and Profundity, being united at their extreme
poles, make Latitude; and so the wheel of Life is
turned about : the Profundity is the subjective life, the
w^ater that is below; the Altitude is the objective
Light, the «tfeam that is above; and the conflux of
these two is in a Calx, out of which, as from a rocky
fountain, the physical TETRACTi'S springs through the
contrite experience into life, with attributes prolific
and enduring fruits.
That was the Water so much magnified by the wise
Adepts, the miraculous product of the spiritual poles
of mind in sublime conjunction at their source ; this
was their St ilia ?'o?is, Lac Vh^gi}ns, Elixir, Aqua Vitce
Azoth, Prima JlJateria Lapis ct Reins, regenerate in its
once assumed body, visible, tangible, and sensible to
every sense, local and finite, made manifest of itself
regeneratively, by the obstetric hand of the physico-
chemical art for benefits and uses almost infinite.
Fresher liquor there is none to taste,
And it will never consume nor waste ;
Tho' it be occupied evermore,
Tt will never be less in store ;
Manifestation of the Matter. 387
Which Democrit named to his intent,
Lux umbra carens. Water most orient ;
And Hermes said, no liquor so necessary,
As was water of crude Mercury :
And this shall stand, said that noble clerke,
For the Water within our werke.^
Another Tablet is here which Philosophy y-upoj»~ft (Tyl^^-S^
l^mo gratofi;^ erected to the memory of her early
friend.
Blessed be thou. Experience !
Full mighty is thy Influence,
Thy wondrous works record full well,
In world of worlds where thou dost dwell ;
In earth, in heaven, and in hell.
That thou art the very same,
That didst from nothing all things frame ;
Wherefore, now blessed T^ thy name !
By whose pm*e and simple Light,
All creation sprung forth Bright,
Flames and floods began to roar.
And to present their hidden store
Of spirits, that sing evermore,
All glory and magnificence.
All humble thanks and reverence,
Be given to Experience !
To that most Sapient,
The High Omnipotent !
That said, Be It, and it was done.
Our earth, oui* heaven, were begun ;
I am, quoth she, the most in might,
In word, in life, and eke in light,
In mercy and in judgment right.
The Depth is mine, so is the Hight,
The Cold, the Hot, the Moist, the Dry,
Where all in all is, there Am I.
What thing can tell when I began, or where I make an end,
Wherewith I wrought, and what I mought, or what I did intend
To do, when I had done
The work I had begun ?
For when my Being was alone,
One Thing I made when there was none ;
A mass confused and darkly clad,
That in itself, all Nature had
To form and shape the good and bad ;
And then, as time began to fall,
^ See Norton's Ordinal, chap. iv.
c c 2
388 Laws and Conditions.
It pleased me the same to call.
The first Material Mother of all.
And from that lump divided I foure sundry elements,
Whom I commanded for to reigne in divers regiments ;
In kind they did agree,
But not in qualitye.
Whose simple substance I did take,
My seat invisible to make ;
And of the qualities compound,
I made the starry sky so round,
With living bodies on the ground,
And blessed them infinitely,
And bade them grow and multiply !
One Thing was first employed,
Which shall not be destroyed ;
It compasseth the world so round,
A matter easy to be found :
And yet most hard to come by :
A secret of secrets pardye,
That is most vile and least set by.
But it's my love and darling,
Conceived with all living thing,
And travels to the world's ending.
A childe begetting his own Father, and bearing hys Mother,
Killing himself to give life and light to all other,
Is that I meane,
Most mild and most extreme.
Did not the world that dwelt in me
Take form and walk forth visibly ;
And did not I then dwell in It,
That dwelt in me for to unite,
Three Powers in one seat to sit.^
And these are the Three continually noted in Al-
chemy, the Sulphur and Mercury and Salt, the active
and the passive, and the resulting experience of life. The
first, in the regeneration, is the Word of God indepen-
dent without all human will, miraculously conceived
and confessed divine in the new birth : The second is
of the Humanity, i. e. of the selfhood, prepared and
sanctified ; and the result of these two in union is the
Bodily Substance of things thenceforth created. By
a severance from real being, non-being, that is to say
Matter, is produced ; and the sacrifice that is gratefully
1 See Ashmole's Theat., page 336 ; Experience and Philosophr.
Manifestation of the Matter. 389
provided of the material nature in their reunion, as
supplying body to the Divine, excites the Powers to
participation, conceives them when they accede, and
consciously unfolds them into visibility and act. And
hence we may be enabled to conceive perhaps, in a
measure at least, how the microcosmical tradition
arose, how the human hypostasis becomes, through
a self-perceivance, into universal intelligence, and of ^
its own voluntary resignation, If the nothingness of /ki-^o-^-v/
self oblivion, to be the All, precedent to that wherein
is all. For with the desire of rest and contact, there
is a power of accession, and with accession a suffi-
cience, operative and universal.
Come and see, says the Rabbi in Zohar, Thought is
the Principle of all that is ; but it is at first Unknown
and shut up in itself When the Thought begins to
develope itself forth, it arrives at that degree when it
becomes Spirit. Arrived at this estate, it takes the \
name of Intelligence, and is no longer as before it was
shut up in itself. The Spirit, in its turn, developes
itself in the bosom of the mystery with which it is sur-
rounded ; and there proceeds a voice which is the
reunion of the celestial choirs, a voice which rolls
forth in distinct utterance articulate, for It comes from
the Mind.i
Thought is the principle of all that is. Mag-
nificent, yet impervious assertion, shall we say ? or
what conceptive height may struggle to confirm it?
What imagination strong or hardy enough to glance
into the full faith ? To Be the Understanding of that
Light, of which all Nature is the Efflux, to move One
with the First Mover, and Be His Will, who is at once
the Antecedent and Final Cause of all? We cannot,
profanely as we live without the knowledge of our-
selves, attain to the Divine Idea; either to entertain or
think It self-actively is impossible. For the Thought
which is of God creative is the inversion of our
^ Part i. 246 verso ; Frank, part ii. p. 191.
390 Laws and Conditions.
thought ; and to know Him in It is self-annihilation in
the life which is eternal.
Yet if thou wilt even break the Whole, instructs
Pnemander, and see those things that are without the
world, thou mayest. Behold how great power and
swiftness thou hast ! Consider that which contains all
things, and understand that nothing is more capacious,
than that which is incorporeal, nothing more swift,
nothing more powerful ; but it is most capacious, most
swift, and most strong. And judge of this by thyself,
assimilating, for the like is intelligible by the like.
Increase thyself into an immeasurable greatness, leap-
ing beyond eveiy body, and transcending time, become
Eternity, and thou shalt understand God. If thou
art able to believe in thyself, that nothing is impos-
sible, but perceivest thyself to be immortal, and that
thou canst understand all things, every art, every
science, and the manner and custom of every living
thing ; become higher than all height, lower than all
depth, comprehend in thyself the qualities of all the
creatures ; of the fire, the water, the dry, and the moist,
and conceive likewise that thou canst at once be every-
where, in the sea and in the earth : Thou shalt at once
understand thyself, not yet begotten, in the womb,
young, old, to be dead, the things after death and all
these together, as also times, places, deeds, qualities,
or else thou canst not yet understand God. But if
thou hast shut up thy soul in the body, to abuse it ;
and say, I understand nothing, I can do nothing, I am
afraid of the sea, I cannot climb up into Heaven, I
know^ not who I am, I cannot tell what I shall be ;
what hast thou to do w^ith God? For thou canst
understand none of those fair and good things, and It
is the greatest evil not to know God. But to be able
to know, and to will, and to hope, is the straight w^ay
and the divine way proper to the Good ; and it will
meet thee everywhere thereafter and everywhere be
seen of thee, plain and easy, even when thou dost no
longer expect or look for it. It will meet thee waking.
Manifestation of the Matter. 391
sleeping, sailing, travelling by night and by day, when
thou speakest and when thou keepest silence. For
there is nothing which is not the Image of God.^
But the exemplary Logos is hidden, — slain from
the foundation in the exterminating fiat of our Iden-
tity ; and the occultation of this does not take place
therefore, but in two poles or principles diametrically
reverse. We must pass the eternal wheel of the vicis-
situdes of things, from the manifest created individu-
ahty, back into the Initial germ ; through all ages, all
revolutions and the infinitude of soul experience, until
Hfe, as an ocean tide flowing to its extreme boundary,
returns to refund its treasury again in its First Source.
Most mighty and surpassing magic of Reflection. —
And thou august Mother of all things, Divine Ex-
perience.— Thought emanating Light, as by Intelli-
gence excruciated. Life springs forth with motion,
feeling itself to Be. — In the which affirmation, in the jy / /) //
Divine I am, is by the Cabal signified the Substant ^otJ^i^tU^^
Unity of all that is ; the fountain of Universal Na-
ture and her Exemplary Law, the source of so
many miracles and magical accordances, as of every
natural and supernatural increase — where Experience
is present with Power, and Efi^ect in substance to bear
them witness — where Wisdom is poured forth like
Water and Glory faileth not before Him for
ever.
For visibles here are said verily to spring out of
that which is invisible, as from the precedent no-
thingness Something is produced ; and thus the
recreation was seen to be a stupendous metaphysical
birth out of the Infinite into Light, according to that
notable saying of the Sybil in Boissard,
Yerbum intisibile fiet palpabile et geeminabit ut Eadix.
Ought we not therefore to take That which is impal-
pable and imperfectly conceived at first, and work
^ Hermes' Divine Poemander, book s.
392 Laws and Conditions.
faithfully, as the philosopher tells us, until it be the
Divine pleasure to make it appear ; to dissolve, coagu-
late, resolve, refine, and regulate, until Reason becoming
a bright Light in the periphery of her fiery essence
remains immortal, and is the Mistress of Life.
HiC EST MeECUBIUS NOSTEE NOBILLISSIMrS, ET DeUS NUN-
QTJAM CEE4.VIT EEM NOBLLIOEEM SUB CCELO PE^TEE ANIMAM
EATIONALEM.
And here the External and Internal World? were
seen to blend together in confluent harmony, proving
and establishing each other, and leaving reason nothing
more to doubt of, or the senses to desire, but a fulfil-
ment under the Universal Law.
393
CHAPTER IV.
Of the Mental Requisites and Impediments incidental
to Individuals either as Masters or Students in the
Hermetic Art.
Quserunt Alchimiam falsi quo que recti,
Falsi sine numero, sed hi sunt rejecti ;
Et cupiditatibus, lieu ! tot sunt iufecti,
Quod inter mille, millia, vix sunt tres electi
Istam ad scientiam.
Norton's Ordinal, Proheme.
TO those whom indmation has led thus far, with
a benevolent sphit, to the Inquiry, it may appear
no trifling object that we are in pursuit of, or irra-
tional, if we may help to recover the Ancient Experi-
ment of Nature into her Causal Light : nor, let us be
assured, will a few short years of study or idle handling
of the Matter, be sufficient to admit a man to the
arcana of Hermetic science. Neither does it follow (and
which is more to be regretted), that because all men
have the material and live by it, that every one is
therefore fitted to handle the same, or able to im-
prove, promote, and profit by it in the manner here
proposed. Few, we fear, judging by our own ob-
servation, and very few according to the testimony of
more experienced observers, are endowed with a dis-
position naturally adapted towards this peculiar re-
search ; for that it is pecuhar and distinct fi*om every
other branch of philosophy, may, without a more
lengthening demonstration, have become apparent.
To save fruitless labour, therefore, and deter the idle,
it may be well to learn at once, before we enter on
the routine of Practice, what the impediments are, and
those mental endowments most insisted on, for se-
curing success in the experimental pursuit.
Geber, who, in his Sum of Perfection, writes at
394 Laws and Conditions.
length, and better than many, on this head, excludes
several classes, which may serve as a foundation for de-
veloping the defects of each. Natural Impotency, he
asserts, is manifold, and may proceed partly from the
physical defects of the artist, and partly from his soul ;
for either the organ may be weak or wholly corrupted,
or the soul in the oi'gan having nothing of rectitude or
reason in itself; or because it is fantastical, imduly
susceptive of the contrary of forms, and suddenly ex-
tensive fi'om one thing knowable to its opposite,
without discrimination. If a man have his faculties
therefore so incomplete, he cannot come to the com-
pletion of this work ; no more either than if he were
sick, or blind, or wanting in his limbs, because he is
helped by those members, by mediation of ivhich like-
wise, as ministering to nature, this art is perfected.
And further on, respecting the Impediments of Mind,
the Arabian continues, He that hath not a natural
sagacity and soul, searching suhtly, and scrutinizing
natural principles, the Fundamentals of Nature, and
Artifices which can follow Nature in the properties of
her action, cannot find the true Radix of this most
precious science. As there be many who have a stij/'
neck, void of ingenuity and every sort of perscrutina-
tion. Besides these, we find many who have a soul
easily opinionating every phantasy ; but that which
they believe to be truth is all imagination, deviating
from reason, full of error, and remote from natural
Law ; because their brain is replete with fumosities , it
cannot receive the true intention of natural things.
There be also, besides these, others who have a soul
moveable from opinion to opinion, and from will to
will ; as those who suddenly believe a thing and will
the same, without any ground at all of ?'eason ; and a
little after do believe another thing, and accordingly
will another. And these, being so changeable, can ill
accomplish the least of what they intend : but rather
leave it defective. There be, moreover, others who
cannot discern any truth at all to look after in natural
things, no more than beasts ; others again, who con-
Mental Requisites and Impediments. 395
demn this science and believe it not to be ; whom, in
hke manner and together with the rest, this science
contemns and repels from the accomplishment of
this most pious work. And there are some besides,
who are slaves, loving money, who do affirm this to
be indeed an admirable science, but are afraid to in-
terposit the necessary charges. Therefore, although
they approve, and according to reason, have sought the
same, yet to the experience of the work they attain
not, through covetousness of money. Therefore our
science comes not to them. For how can he who is
ignorant or neghgent in the pursuit of Truth, other-
wise attain it ? ^
Now, if some of these should appear forced, or
rather fanciful obstacles to the pursuit of science, we
pray the reader to consider their application more
closely, and whether, by particularizing, w^e may be
able to discover their real drift. And to begin with
this first and last defect of Avarice ; those mammon-
worshippers appear indeed formerly to have believed
but too much ; j±ei^ that miserable division of them
©siy who sought in ignorance, from inert matter,
without a ray of light to guide their benighted hopes.
Thew did but small harm comparatively, it ^Tnot they 'Cv~&^
who^^ so greatly obnoxious to philosophy, -fe^^rnay
be rather compassionated for their folly, who found""'
nothing but loss and disappointment in exchange for
years of patient and expectant labour. There have
been others, far more blameworthy, tl%ft^H4iof^:^ and
more fallacious, against whom the true adepts have
unanimously declaimed ; depraved minds, that having
entered, as Geber implies, by the right way of reason,
forsook her guidance nevertheless, and basely en-
tangling the clue of life, climbed by it into forbidden
regions of self-sufficiency, and in the open face of
Truth, stole her young hopes, the first-fruits of her
divining growth, and slew her there.
^ Summa Perfect, lib. i. cap. iii.
396 Laws and Conditions.
Mammon led them on ;
Mammon that least erected spirit that fell
From heaven, for e'en in heaven his looks and thonghts
Were always downward bent, admiring more
The riches of heaven's pavement-trodden floor
Than ought divine or holy else enjoyed
In vision beatific.^
These are they who have been held in abhorrence
by the good in all ages ; who, having succeeded in in-
ducing an exalted energy, have wilfully denied the
Light its true fulfilment, and substituting their own
hasty purpose instead of the Divine, defiled it ; com-
pelling the Spirit to their private ends. And what
will not the subject soul suffer when pressed by so
execrable an evil? For such is the constitution of
things, that it must either be filled with a superior
or inferior power ; and as the former is the reward
of piety and proximate to the Final Cause, the
latter is the punishment of the impious who defile the
divine part of their essence, insinuating an evil spirit
in the place of the Divine. ^ — They have discovered se-
crets, says the prophet, and they are those who have
been judged : for they know every secret of the
angels, ev^ery oppressive and secret power of devils,
and every power of those who commit sorcery, as well
as of those who make molten images in the whole
earth. They know lioiv silver is produced from the
dust of the earth, and how, on earth, the metallic drop
exists ; for lead and tin are not ]:)roduced from the
earth as the primary fountain of their production.
There is an angel standing upon it, and that angel
struggles to prevail. They have discovered secrets,
and these are they who are to be judged -^ who have
turned the discovery of nature to an ill account ; and
these are they to whom Geber alludes, who do ajjirm
this to be indeed an admirable science, and have sought
it also according to reason, yet could 7iot enter into the
1 Paradise Lost, book i.
2 Book of Enoch, cap. Ixiv. sect. ii.
Mental Requisites and Impediments. 397
experience, being afraid in their own persons to inter-
posit the necessary charges, i. e. to abandon the life of
selfhood, and return the product to a benevolent and
truthful end. Just to the pomt, we have the story of
an Arabian Magician, who must needs steal a little
boy, to go with him to the mountain, in order to sup-
ply the material his own wickedness did not suffer him
to approach.
No impure leaven (need we repeat it ?) can enter into
Wisdom ; she scorns to promote folly in any guise,
much less will she suffer defilement at man's finite
hand. But if anything be done against the right of
nature, she forsakes the polluted tabernacle and is lost.
Know, likewise, says the pious author of the Aquarium,
that if by reason of that gift vouchsafed to thee by
God, thou happen thereupon, even after thou hast it,
to wax proud or be covetous, under whatever cover of
false pretence, and dost hereby tempt thyself to a
turning away from God, by little and little ; know, for
I speak the truth, that this art ivill vanish from under
thy hands, insomuch that thou shalt not know even
that thou hadst it. The which, verily, hath befallen
more than one without their expectation.^ Does any
one at this day, really conversant with the Subject,
ridicule such an assertion ; or are our minds so far
estranged from the sphere of final causes, as to be
unable to conceive the accountability of moral evil
under the Law ? Is not destruction to the wicked ?
says Job, and a strange punishment to the workers of
iniquity ? Doth not He see my ways, and count all my
steps ? If I have walked with vanity, or if my foot
hath hasted to deceit ; let me be weighed in an even
balance, that God may know mine integrity. If my
step hath turned out of the way, and mine heart
walked after rnine eyes, and if any blot hath cleaved to
mine hands : then let me sow, and let another eat ;
yea, let my offspring be rooted out. — If I have made
gold my hope, or have said to the Jitie gold, Thou art
^ Aquarium Sapientfim, Appendix.
/
398 Laws and Conditions.
my confidence; if I rejoiced because my wealth was
great, and because mine hand had gotten much ; if I
beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in
brightness : and my heaj^t hath, heen sectrtli/ enticed, or
7)11/ mouth hath kissed my hand: this also were an
iniquity to be punished by the Judge: for I should
have denied the God that is above}
That was the transgression of Eve, and of Adam,
who sought to hide his iniquity in his bosom ;^ but so
multifanous are the estrangements of sense, and so
rapidly are effects carried along and remotely imaged
in this world, that their source becomes less and less
an object of general regard. The Laws of Nature
indeed are examined into, and practically demonstrated
to be just what they appear to be ; the moral, the
physical, and the organic are well reasoned and ohown
tiptigt; as in their constitutional consequences , attaliimat-
(X^(xrcu «4 from each other, fixed and independent. For nature
at the circumference subsists in this way ; animals, birds,
insects, fishes, herbs too, and minerals, having their
parts so variously qualified, that not anything homo-
geneous is discovered to sight. Each creature never-
theless has its class ; and a kingdom in common belongs
to each specific variety. As a tree, with its flowers,
leaves, and branches, in plural manifestation, is at the
root one ; and as the flower may die and the leaves
still survive, or the trunk without either live to endure
the winter's blast, so with respect to the natural laws ;
and in such a respect are they seen, independent and
apart fi'om each other ; neither more nor less, for in
their root are they not also one ? Let the virus but
once reach this by either channel, the moral, the phy-
sical or the organic vitally infiinged, the whole structure
sympathizing decays. It is true, a man may be unjust,
cruel, avaricious ; may indulge in many vices without
suffering in health, provided the structural Laws be well
conditioned and obeyed : contrariwise, also, the best
^ Job, xxxi. 3—21.
2 Idem, 33.
Mental Requisites and Impediments. 399
men may suffer from physical defects and infringe-
ment of the organic law. In mechanical arts, too, and
ordinary intellectual operations, we image out ideas
by suitable subjects independently ; so that, whether
it be for the sake of gain, fame, or object of what-
ever kind, whether the work be undertaken with a
benevolent, malicious, or other uncertain intent, the
thing resulting may be the same, and remain to image,
not the motive instigatory but the Idea. It is either
well or ill done, beautiful or deformed, according to the
pattern and skill that have been exercised, irrespective
of the individual intention which gave it birth. The
pictures of Holbein are not less beautiful for all the
covetous spirit that reigned with their conception ; the
deformity of the artist's soul was, as the Laws of
Nature, apart, nor ever manifested in his produced
work. The motive-springs of humanity are very
generally made occult^ like the armament within the
Trojan Horse, are often admitted under other pretext,
to develope their force securely, whether of good or evil,
in the world. And whilst yet they are borne along
in outward consequence far from their originating
source, the many are slow to perceive it, though they
should retain all the while possibly, in the abiding
purpose, the conscious rewards of its own kind.
But in Alchemy, where the nature of things is alto-
gether altered and ultimately reversed. Final Causes
are of all things most manifestly revealed, and that in
their immediate act and operation no less than in the
eifect. Here is no gathering of grapes from thorns,
or figs from thistles, as in this life is attempted ; but
the intention is received back according to its kind most
exactly ; where the subject, object, and result, through
eveiy phase of life agree together, where the end is
determinate fi'om the beginning, as the beginning is by
the end made manifest, without intervention or con-
cealment in the ministering Spirit throughout. Spring-
ing directly from ourselves, this highly effective agent,
even in the natural state, inclines, as the will directs,
to image the conceived Idea ; how much more, when
400 Laws and Conditions.
promoted through a second to a third degree of con-
centration, does it become fortified ; and further mul-
tiplying in the Conjunction, impose in sure conse-
quences on him who wields it the inherent account-
ability ? An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth ; so
does the Law of Justice exact retribution in those
spheres : hence so much caution and secrecy, that the
Power might only be discovered through the long labour
of an experienced and upright mind. Hence so much
continued warning off the profane ; lest, deviating, they
should either break or become broken necessitously
upon the Wheel of Life. Sons of science ! for this reason
are the philosophers said to be envious, declares Hermes,
not that they grudged the truth to religious or just
men, but to fools, ignorant and vicious, who are without
self control and beneficence, lest they should be made
powerful and able to perpetrate sinful things, for of
such the philosophers are made accountable to God,
and evil men are not accounted worthy of this Wis-
dom.^
Mais tryeful, merveyloys, and Archimastrye
Is the tincture of holi Alkimy ;
A wonderful science, and secret filosophy
A singular grace and gift of the Almightye ;
Which never was found, as witness we can,
Nor thys science was ever tauglit to man,
But he were proved perfectly with space.
Whether he were able to receive this grace.
For his trewth, virtue and for his stable wit,
Which, if he faill, he shall never have it.
Also no man should this science teach,
For it is so wonderful, and so selcouth,
That it must needs be taught fro' mouth to moutli ;
Also he must (if he be never so loath),
Receive it with a most sacred oath,
That, as we refuse great dignity and fame,
Soe he must needly refuse the same.
And this science ii ust ever secret be,
The cause whereof is this, as ye may see.
If one evil man had hereof all his will.
All Christian pease he might easily spill ;
And with his pride he might pull downe,
Eightful Kings and Princes of reuowne ;
' Tract. Aur. cap. i.
Mental Requisites and Impediments. 401
Wherefore the sentence of peril and jeopardy
Upon the teacher resteth dreadfully.
So that for doubt of such pride and wealth
He must beware, that will this science teach,
No man therefore may reach this great present.
But he hath virtues excellent.
Soe tho' men weene possessors not to aide
To hallow this science, as before is saide,
Neither seem not blessed effectually.
Yet, in her order, this science is holy.
And forasmuch as no jnan may her find
But only by grace, she is holy in her kind.
Also it is a work and cure divine,
Foul copper to make gold and silver fine ;
No man may find such change by his thought,
Of divers kinds which Grod's hands have wrouglit ;
Por Grod's conjuctions man may not undoe.
But if his grace fully consent thereto.
By help of this science, which our Lord above,
Has given to such men as He doth love,
Wherefore old Fathers, conveniently,
Called this science Holy Alkimy.'
None ever truly attained to the fruits of this philo-
sophy, as the wise declare, without rectitude of in-
tention and the blessing of God on a well tried expe-
rience : and it is the reiterated assertion of this grate-
ful truth that has encouraged us, by a natural faith, to
pursue the inquiry and recommend it to others who
are desirous of instruction. To say that the pursuit is
without danger to the ill-informed, would be presuming
too much on late acquaintanceship and contrary to the
credible assertion of adepts. But there are many de-
grees of success in the le2:itimate path, and every step
is progressive where the Rule of Reason is pursued.
Avarice, or ambition, or a curious hope, may long to
prove the golden promise of Alchemy ; but neither will
be found to be the true Form of Gold ; Reason alone
can enter into It ; Mammon may draw the dead metal
in heaps about its sordid circumference ; but it cannot
quicken the aurific seed in life ; that Spirit is too gross
to permeate the ethereal profundity ; all he can draw
from it is stolen ; for he is the first to fly from Wis-
^ Norton's Ordinal, chap. i. in Ashmole's Theatrum.
D D
402 Laws and Conditions.
dom's fiery ordeal, not able to enter with his camel
form, or daring to prove his vaporous essence in Her
pure Light.
But to proceed ; next above the Covetous, Sceptics
are condemned by Geber : but as these by their own
choice remain in ignorance, they would merit less re-
proval were it not that they endeavour to hinder
others as well as themselves from the pursuit of truth.
And of all evil spirits that haunt this world and set up
their bar to human advancement, infidelity perhaps is
the most absurd : by infidelity, we mean that fashion-
able kind of faithlessness, w^hich, without rational
foundation, denounces everything that is new, or
not seeming immediately to square with the received
common-place, and which in truth conceives nothing
w'orthy to be believed, or held in veneration. The
age of religious intolerance has passed gradually away,
and great allowances are now made for most things,
all kinds of folly and diversities of opinion ; but so
much higher does the folly of scepticism run than
heretofore, over all boundary, test of reality and pro-
bability of truth, that we had as lieve the days of
Galileo had been our's, as live so much later to see the
recovered secret of ages dwindle and sink into obloquy
for lack of faith and mind verily to bear it witness in
manifestation.
It is the wisdom of modern sceptics to ape the thing
which they stand most in need of, viz., sound reason; ' q
the deficiency too is doubled in their disguise, as,, igno- '"^
rant of their own ignorance, they push forward as so
many stolid bolts before the gate of Truth. Yet, de-
spite of all the rejectors and scoffers. Nature opens
her hospitable door to the multitude in the highways
and byways, seeking them out to alleviate their sufferings
and offer a new guide to knowledge and felicity. We
7u; o allude to Mesmerism : wei^^er ashamed, but grateful
to acknowledge the neglected Door-keeper that gave us
first introduction to the vestibule of antique science.
Do they not perceive how she has risen up, lifted by a
few faithful hands out of their reach ? Those scoffers ?
Mental Requisites and Impediments. 403
But her monarchy was estabhshed and triumphant
even before they perceived her, or ever their wicked
crusade against her was begun. They warred with
they knew not what, or wished either to know ; or,
had they wislied, would it avail without faith to sti-
mulate in the pursuit. Nature, who is liberal of her
common gifts and lavishes earthly blessings without
personal respect, opens not this casket after the same
rule ; she must be moved to it subtly, conscientiously,
courteously, and then she will surrender to none but a
philosopher, one too that has been disciphned in her
schools, tried and proven to ensure his ability to bear
the sacred trust.
Therefore no man shulcle be too swifte,
To cast away our Lord's precions gifte,
Consideriuge liow the Almighty God,
From great doctors hath this science forbod ;
And granted it to few men of his mercy,
Such as be faithful, trew and lowly.
And as there be but planets seven
Among the multitude of stars in heaven,
Soe among millions of millions of mankind
Scarcely seven men male this science finde.
Wherefore laymen ye may lere and see
How many doctors of great authority,
With many searchers have this science souglit,
Yet all their labours have turned to nought.
And if they did cost, yet found none availe,
But in their purpose often tyme did faile.
Then in despair, they reason and departe.
And then they say how there is noe such arte ;
But fained fables, they name it as they goe,
A fals fond thing, they say it is alsoe.
Such men presume too much upon their minde,
They weene their wits sufficient this arte to finde ;
But of their slander and wordes of outrage.
We take thereof trewly little charge :
For such be not invited to our feast.
Which weeneth themselves wise, and can doe leaste.
Albeit such men list not longer to pursue,
Tet is this science of Alkimy full trew ;
And albeit some proud clerks say nay,
Tet every wise clerke weU consider may.
How he which hereof might no trewth see.
May not hereof lawful witness be ;
D D 2
404 Laws and Conditions,
For it were a wondrous thing and queinte
A man ilmt never had sight to peinte.
How sliould a born blinde man be sure
To write or make good portraiture ?
To build Poule's steeple might be greate double
For such proud clerks to bring aboute ;
Such might be apt to break their crowne,
Ere they could wisely take it downe.
Wherefore all such are full far behind e,
To fetch out the secretest pointe of kinde ;
Therefore all men, take their fortune and chance,
Eemit such clerks to their ignorance.^
Rational scepticism has quite another object and
never exhibits itself in the refractory form of its mock
ally. It is the province of reason to inquire and en-
deavour, by perscrutination, to prove all things, that,
finally rejecting the false, it may hold fast that which
is true. Such scepticism, more properly perhaps
called discrimination, is as much required by the Her-
metic Student as the other is obnoxious. For this
kind of analytic exercise helps to corroborate the mind,
and cultivate that distinctive supremacy of truth in the
qAoU'I understanding/^which is so essential to success in the
^ / practical research ; but which is very rarely to be met
with in uneducated minds. And, being without it,
need we wonder that so many are now, as in Geber's
and Norton's time, opinionative, unstable in purpose,
wilful and dissimulating ; or that they wlio have never
entertained the true ideal should fail to recognise the
image when represented before their eyes ? The
searcher of nature ought to be, as she herself is, faith-
ful, simple, patient, constant, giving his mind to the
discovery of truth alone, hopeful and benevolent. It
behoves him, also, who would be introduced into this
hidden Wisdom, says the Hermetic Master, to free him-
self from the usurpation of vice, and to be good, just,
and of a sound reason, ready at hand to hel]) mankind, of
a serene countenance, diligent to save, and be himself a
patient guardian of the arcane secrets of philosophy.^
* Norton's Oi-dinal, chap. i.
2 Tract. Aur. cap. ii.
Mental Requisites and Impediments. 405
And if to these qualifications a convenient leisure be
added, all may be hoped for progressively passing by
a living experience into the Light. But neither will a
busy head nor a faithless heart, by impure hands, be
able ; nor does a vagabond inclination enter in by the
narrow way of life.
With respect to the impediments of body mentioned
by Geber, these are less numerous and more com-
monly supplied : Hands and eyes are to be had in
abundance, and where these are conjoined with the
foregoing conditions, other hinderances with respect to
the artist may, for the occasion, be passed by. Then
for the student; he should, as a matter of course, be
possessed, or learn, at least, to cultivate the incipient
qualifications he intends afterwards to bring to prac-
tice. The same patient hope and free perspicuity of
thought and imagination also will be called for, in ac-
quiring the Hermetic doctrine, by perusal, as is after-
wards needed for the experimental proof. Reading was
not formerly adapted to the million, as it now is, in
thought, language, and reference — familiarized and
made easy to the understanding of all. No such al-
luring baits to idleness are to be found on the title
pages of the middle age school of philosophy ; — no
such simplifications of science, as we now hear of, are
belonging to Alchemy. It is true, there are Revelations,
Open Entrances, New Lights and True Lights, Sun-
shine and Moonshine, with other Auroras, and pictured
Dawns ; Manuals, Introductory Lexicons of obscure
terms, with meanings no less obscured ; Trium-
phal Chariots also, ^\£a»&. Gates, Keys, and Guides
too without number, all directing on the same Royal
Road when this is found ; but useless to most way-
farers ; nothing that we observe at all suited to the
means or taste of the miUion?ffy class of readers whose
understanding, like that of pampered children, has
grown flaccid ; and, by excess of object-teaching, has
forgotten how to think.
Very few there will be found to relish the enigmas
of the old Alchemists ; no thoughtless experimentalist.
/3.
ayrx/y^*-
'o^O^^
I
406 Laws and Conditions.
persisting in his mere senses — no hopeful receipt -
monger, sectarian fanatic, or fact idolator — no idhng
curiosity seeker, or dilettanti imaginist, will find even
his leisure well occupied in this pursuit : we warn
them all, the subject is too abstruse, and too intricately
dealt with, for the natural understanding to appre-
jUL. / hend at first view. But it io trucks the adepts in-
deed foretold, their records have proved like a curious
two-edged instrument — to some it has cut out dainties,
and to others it has only served to cut their fingers ;
yet are they not altogether to be blamed. It is not
for the ignorant to blame the power of that which they
do not know how to handle ; or would it not be a ridi-
culous thing, if some child or arrogant rustic were to
denounce the language of Astronomy, or say that Che-
mistry was a vain science, and merely because the
terms are not comprehensible without instruction ? In
almost all the records of Alchemy, the inner sense is
held aloof from the literal ; and if, by hazard or bene-
volent design, the truth has escaped in plain discourse,
it has been either slighted over or disbelieved. Thus
Sendivogius relates it had frequently happened to him,
that having intimated the Art to some friends, word by
word explaining it, they could by no means understand
him, not believing, as he quaintly expresses it, that there
was any water in our sea; and yet, says he, they would be
accounted philosophers. Other instances of the same
kind are given, amongst whom, Eireneus, in the run of
his allegory relates, — There were a multitude of men,
who, seeing my Light in my Hand, which they could not
discern well, they being in that darkness which would
not be enlightened ; but, as through a thick cloud be-
holding my candle, judged it ominous, and left their
stations. For their eyes with darkness and smoke were
made so tender, that my candle overpowered them, and
they could not bear its lustre ; therefore they, crying out,
ran away. I mused much at this, continues the philo-
sopher, how they could be in such Cimmerian darkness;
and as I wondered, I bethought me, that they had with
them another light, as it were. Fox-fire or Rotten wood,
Mental Requisites and Impediments. 407
or Glow-worm's tails; and with this they sat in consul-
tation, reading Geber, Rhasis, and such whom I heard
them name, and commenting on them, not without
much pleasantness. Then I considered that the light
which I had brought with me did not enlighten that
place, but stood separated, as it were, from the dark-
ness ; and withal I remembered that there was once a
Light in the World, and the Darkness comprehended it
not : and that darkness I now perceived had a false
fire of its own, with which it seemed to its inhabitants
to be wonderfully well enlightened.^ i^l ^
This hnmoroua intududa of Eiren^us,.in the out- 'JJia^^
ward application, bears not unaptly to our con-
clusion, that the abstruse light of Alchemy is not
fit for the understanding of all, neitlier is percep-
tible to the gross intelligence of the mass of man-
kind. But this singular fate of incredulity has seemed
always to attend, lest folly or wilfulness, precipi-
tously passing into practice, should either perish or
break the divine legislation in inharmonious effects.
And thus the Art will probably continue concealed
through many ages still ; nor, except by a very few,
be more accredited, though all early Christendom
should rise up in attesting array to give it evidence.
For what is truth to triflers, or light to the indifferent
worldling, who cares not to be undeceived ? How en-
list him in a search so arduous, so uninteresting to his
affections, and inimical to his self-love ? No ! wise in
his generation, rather let him sleep on ; for what
would it profit him to learn to believe without the
power of realizing any good ? Without a stable
theory, and the desire of truth absolutely leading, all
is mere vanity and a vexation of the spirit.
It wei'e much better for such to cease,
Than for tliis art to put them in presse ;
Let such-like butterfles wonder and pass,
Or learne this lesson both now and lasse,
Following the sentence of this lioli letter,
1 Ripley Eevived, First Gate, p. 12 1 .
408 Laws and Conditions.
Attingens a fine usque ad finem fortiter,
Disponens omnia suaviter ;
That is proceede mightily to th' End
From the beginning maugre the Fiend.
All tilings disposing, in the meane space,
AVitli great suavity that cometh of grace,
All short-witted men and mutable
Such must needes be variable ;
And some do every man believe,
Such credence doth their coffers grieve ;
To every new tale to them told,
They give credence and leave the old.
But some Lords be of stable wit,
Such only be apt to finish it.^
Adepts all therefore advise discretion, and are cir-
cumspect in their revealments, lest That, which in the
hands of a philosopher becomes most precious, should
be otherwise made worthless, or worse than all. He
that understands, says the royal artist, let him under-
stand and advance ; but let him that cannot, be igno-
rant still. For this treasure is not to be bought with
money ; and as it cannot be bought, so neither can it
be sold.^ Ye sons of Avarice and Ignorance, cries
Geber, and ye of evil manners, avaunt and fly from
this science, for it is inimical to you, and wdll bring
you to poverty. For this great gift of God is, by His
judgment, hidden fi'om you forever ; and therefore we
treat of it in such words as to the wise shall, by pur-
suit, become intelligible : but to such as we have de-
scribed, men of mean capacity, will be most jirofound;
and fools shall be absolutely debarred entrance therein.^
Common language is suited to express common
jcn-Ufh-^ idoftc, and to convey them to the vulgar conception ;
^ but the Alchemists, for various sufficient reasons, have
not thought lit to deliver their Wisdom in this w^ay, as
if it could be syllabled out like a romance or a com-
mon ballad, for the amusement of the first runner by,
who would deign to look with his mere eyes and read.
They better knew the value of their instructions, and
1 Norton's Ordinal, chap. vi.
2 Calid in Salmon, p. 30.
3 Summa Perfect, in fine.
,fjto
Mental Requisites and Impediments. 409
so studiously veiled it, that he only who was really de-
sirous, and made fit by long study to pursue the work,
should be able to understand them. — The words of the
wise are as goads, says the preacher, and as nails fast-
ened by the master of assemblies which are given by
one shepherd. — One spirit indeed reigns throughout,
and one intention ; but she is so hedged in with ca-
balisms, metaphors, types, emblems, and sophistica-
tions, there is but One Leader, who should undertake the
deliverance ; one only, we repeat ; he that is allied — / • /I
the same^hat, in practice strengyiening,_afterwardsJ& ^-s? Cc&r\jKt
enabled to raise the allegoric siege of life ; and by the aCu^/^
fire of his divine wrath enkindled, to overcome the ■^
stronghold of evil therein allied.
And let the sapient artificer, concludes the prince,
studiously peruse our books, collecting our dispersed
intention, which we have described in divers places
that we might not expose it to malignant, ignorant
men ; and let him prove his collection even into
the knowledge, studying and experimenting with the
instance of sagacious labour, till he come to an
entire understanding of the whole. Let the stu-
dent exercise himself, in order to find out this our
proposed way of investigation, so as to acquire a
plenary knowledge of the verity of the perfecting
and con-upting Matter and Form.^ And again, — I
beg of thee, my son, says the adept Ricliardus, to
examine the writings of the philosophers ; for if thou
art slothful at thy books, thy mind cannot he prepai'ed
for the icork ; nor will he be able advantageous lij to
bring his Hand to the practice whose Mind is sluggish in
studying the theory. But he with more security shall
advance to the w^ork who has stored his mind with
resources : ignorance is wiped off by study, which
restores the human intellect to true science and know-
ledge, and by these enigmas the Dagon is overthrown.^
Zachary likewise, in his Opusculum — This I tell thee,
1 Epilogue to the Invest, of Perfection.
^ See Lucerna Salis, many passages to the same effect. Eichardi
Ang. libel, cap. iii.
410 Laws and Conditions.
he says, that thou oughtest first to read with un-
wearied patience and perseverance the writings of the
philosophers hefore thou extendest thy Hand to the
Pliilosophic Work, and pray to God for his grace and
wisdom to help thee therein ; for no one ever acquired
this art by chance, but by prayer rather than by any
other means. Mediums nevertheless are to be em-
ployed.^ Pray, says Sendivogius, pray; but work.
God indeed gives understanding; but thou must
know how and when to use it.^ Arnold, in his
Rosary, mentions three requisites, viz., subtlety of
mind, manual skill, and a free will for the operation ;'*
to which Lully, likewise adds a sufhciency of the Divine
Favour, and books to open the understanding and
give it zest for truth. ^ The author of the Luccnia
Sails, moreover, agrees that in order to aequiie this
science study is required in the beginning, and medita-
tion, that a good foundation may be laid ; for that
without this God does not reveal His grace, nor unless
He be prompted thereto by the fervent prayers of him
who desires so signal a favour. He does not either
grant it immediately to any person, but always by
mediate dispositions , to wit, by instructions and the
labour of the hands ; to which He gives a thorough
blessing if He be invoked thereto with a sincere heart:
whereas, when recourse is not duly had to Him by
^ Zachary Opuscule, p. 69.
- New Light, p. 122.
•■* Arnoldi Rosarium, 1. ii. cap. v. Puta subtile iugenium ar-
tiHcis, opera niauuum et arbitriuni ; quod quideui requirit divitias,
sapieutiam, et libros.
'^ LuUii Theor. Test. c. 31. Et idcirco fili tibi dico, quod tria
reqiiiruutur, scilicet, iugenium subtile natiirale non sopliisticuiii,
mauuum operatic, et liberuni arbit\[uni, et hoc requirit sapieutiam,
divitias, et libros. Sapieutiam, ad sciendum lacere : divitias, ad
habendum potestatem facieudi : libros ad intellect um aperieudum
divcrsvuu qui est in multis gentibus. And Kic^ardus — Studium se-
cundum doctores amovet ignorantiam et reducit humanum intel-
lectum ad veram scientiam et cognitioncm cujuslibet rei. Ergo
in primis necesse est per studium hujus suavis operis scientiam
acquirere et per philosophica dicta iugenium acuere, cum in ipsis
sit cognita via veritatis si ergo laborantes laborem non de-
spexerint fructum iudo provenientem dulciter gustabuut, &c. —
Theat. Chem. vol. ii. p. 419. Iticlyardi Anglici Libellus, cap. ii.
Mental Requisites and Impediments. 411
prayer, He stops the effect thereof, either by inter-
posing obstacles to things already begun, or else suf-
fering them to conclude with an evil event. ^
These several preliminary requirements will not ap-
pear astonishing to those who have obtained an insight
into the nature of this science, nor will it be deemed
by any, we hope, a canting pretence or affectation for
philosophers to talk of praying for Divine assistance in
a research, which is so much wrapped in and about the
Desire as to be ultimately made manifest through its
means. Besides, are we not accustomed to seek for
benefits where we think they are to be found ? if we go
to the musician to learn music, the chemist to procure
instruction in his art, to the astronomer, builder, or
other mechanist to learn their several acquirements,
how^ much more ought we not to apply to the Causal
Fountain for Wisdom, which is His alone and volunta-
rily to bestow ? And as the learned of this w^orld must
be won by some means to impart their knowledge,
shall we not by the same parallel endeavour to move
the Divine Nature by prayers, who has promised all
things to those humbly and early seeking Him ? For
to desire and covet after Wisdom is to seek to be a
partaker of that Divinity to which we aspire, and no
otherwise can we be made partakers, it is taught, but
by a voluntary assimilation. — My son, instructs the
wise Hermes, I admonish thee to love God, in wliom
is the strength of thy undertaking and the bond of
whatsoever thou meditatest to unloose, and this
science I have obtained by the sole gift of the living
God inspiring me.^ Man may conditionate — ought, by
patient labour disciplining, to prepare the way of the
Greater in the Lesser Good ; but he cannot compel,
much less impart, the Divine blessing on his handi-
work, neither cement the spiritual union yiov give
it increase. There is a period too, when in conjunc-
1 Digby's Translation of the Lucerua Sails, page 320. Ee-
capitulation.
- Tract. Aur. cap. i. & ii.
412 Laws and Conditions.
tion, the Spirit transcends all earthly control, and
passing under the Divine Hand, recreates by His sove-
reign will alone. But it is vain to look for a blessing
from Nature without His co-operation who is her Will ;
for without controversy, as the Scripture alludes, the
Lesser is blessed by the Greater. — Every good gift and
every perfect gift comes from the Father of Lights in
whom there is no variableness or shadow of turning.
— And again, Paul may plant and Apollos may water,
but God alone giveth the Increase. — And God withholds
not this increase alone, but deprives the talent like-
wise, where it is wasted or hoarded without interest or
promotion. To them that have and use is given
more abundantly, but from him that improves not
there is taken away even that which he has. For the
Almighty will not permit his gifts to remain idle,
much less may they suffer abuse, being immortal ; and
he therefore must be a good steward who w^ould over-
look the rich treasury of life.
Our gold and silver ben no common plate,
But a sperme owte of a body I take,
In tlie wliycb is alia, Sol, Lune, Life and Light,
"Water and Ertb, Fyre and Frygbt :
And alle cometb of one Image,
But the AVater of the Wood, maketb the marriage.
Therefore there ys no other waye
But to take thee to thy beades and pray :
For covetous men yt fiudeth never
Though they seek yt once and ever :
Set not your hearts in thys thing
But only to God and good lyvinge
And he that will come thereby
Must be meeke and full of mercy :
Botli in spyrit and in countenance.
Full of charitie and good governance,
And ever more full of alms deede.
Symple and pewerly hys lyf to leade :
AVitli prayers, penances, and piety.
And ever to God a lover be,
And all the riches that he ys sped,
To do God worshippe with almes deed.
All you that have sought manie a day.
Leave worke, take your beades and pray.*
' Fierce, the Black Monk, on the Elixir, in Aslimole's Theat.
Mental Requisites and Impediments. 41^
With the nature and effects of prayer, in ordinary
Hfe, all men are familiar in one degree or other; for
every desire of the mind is in its kind a prayer and
preparative for the acquirement of its object ; and if
prayer effected nothing else, it certainly collects the
mind, and coiToborates the faculties in their pursuit ;
for when the thoughts are concentered, means and ad-
juncts suggest themselves, which do not occur when
they are indifferently drawn ; and thus by a prayerful
communion we often obtain and divine things which
otherwise we should not. But the esoteric ground
brings us acquainted with prayer in a far deeper sense,
and adepts are eloquent in their imputations of its
efficacy in Spagyric Works, when the mind is lifted
up ; — even in the midst of the operations of Vital
Chemistry, full of labour and toil, they prayed, says
Kirchringius, and every man knows, that hath entirely
devoted himself to this business, how effectual prayer
is, and how often those things which he long sought
and could not find, have been imparted to him in a mo-
ment, as it were, infused from above, or dictated by
some good genius. That also is of use in solving rid-
dles and enigmatical writings ; for if you burn with a
great desire of knowing them, that is pi^ayer : and
when you incline your mind to this or that, variously
discussing and meditating many things, this is co-
operatioti : that your prayer may not be, for want of
exertion a tempting of God ; yet all endeavour is vain
until you find the solution. Nevertheless, if you
despair not, but instantly persist in desire, and cease
not from labour, at length, in a moment, the solution
will fall in ; this is irvdation, which you cannot
receive unless you pray with great desire and labour,
using your utmost endeavour ; and yet you cannot
perceive how from all those things, of which you
thought, which were not the solution of the Enigma,
the solution itself arose. This unfolding of the Riddle
opens to you the mystery of all things, and shows how
available prayer is for the obtainment of things spiri-
tual and eternal, as well as corporeal and perishing
414 Laws and Conditions.
goods : and when prayer is made with a heart not
feigned, hut sincere, you icill see that there is nothing
more Jit for the acquiring of what you desire. Thus
piety is available for all things, as the oracles declare,
and prayer especially, which is its principal exercise, is
profitable for great undertakings.^
But lest, with all this, it should appear to any su-
perstitious or otherwise unrighteous to invoke the
Divine aid to this particular undertaking, as if God
were mutable, we take leayp to add a few further con- a
^} siderations in defence, and^the different kinds of invox .
cation which were employed by the ancients in
their celebration of Theurgic rites.
Prayer, according to Jamblicus, was divided into
three classes. The first of which, as pertaining to
the early initiations, was called Collective, having
for its object to gather the mental powers into ac-
cord with their leader, seeking a clue whereby it
may enter the intelligible profundity of the Enigma.
The second effects the bonds of concordant spirits;
caUing forth, prior to the energy of speech, the
gifts imparted by Divinity, and perfecting the subor-
dinate operations, prior to intellectual alliance. The
third is the final authoritative seal of union ; when the
desire, leading from faith, becomes into its true end.
The first, recapitulates our author, pertains to Illumi-
nation ; the second, to a Communion of Operation ;
but through the energy of the third, we receive a per-
fect plenitude of Divine Fire. And supplication, in-
deed precedes, like a precursor, preparing the way be-
fore the sacrifice appears ; but sometimes it intercedes
as a mediator f' and sometimes accomplishes the end
of sacrificing. No operation however, in sacred con-
cerns, can succeed without the intervention of prayer.
Lastly, the continual exercise of prayer nourishes the
^ Sec the Auuotations of Kirchriiigius on Basil Yalentiue, sub
init. ]). 5.
2 See St. Paul's Epistle to the Eomans, viii. 26, 27.
H-
Mental Requisites and Impediments. 415
vigour of our intellect, and renders the receptacles of
the soul far more capacious (by enlarging the desire)
for the communications of the gods. It likewise is
the Divine Key ivhich opens to men the penetralia of
Wisdom ; accustoms us to the splendid rivers of super-
nal light ; and by tliese, in a short time, perfects the
inmost recesses and disposes them for the ineffable
knowledge and contact of Divinity : nor does adora-
tion desist till it has raised the sublimated soul up to
the summit of all. For it gradually and silently
draws upw^ards the manners of the soul, by divesting
her of every thing foreign to a Divine nature, and
clothes her with the perfections of the gods. Besides
this, it produces an indissoluble communion and friend-
ship with Divinity, nourishes a Divine love, and in-
flames the Divine part of the soul. Whatever is of an
opposive and contrary nature it helps to expiate and
purify, expels whatever is prone to generation, and re-
tains nothing of the dregs of mortality in its ethereal
and splendid spirit ; perfects a good hope and faith,
concerning the reception of Divine Light, and in one
word, renders those by whom it is employed the fa-
miliars and domestics of the gods.^
Such then being the advantages of prayer, and such
the connection of adoration with sacrifice, and the
end of Theurgic sacrifice is a conjunction wdth the
Demiurgic Intellect ; hence, does it not follow, that the
benefit of prayer, if we concur at all in opinion con-
cerning these things, is of the same extent with the
good which is conferred by such an alliance? And
these three terms of adoration, in w'hich, according to
the authorities, all the Divine measures are contained,
not only conciliate the warring elements of life, but
extend to man three supernal benefits ; as, trans-
lated from one form of perfection to another, Life pro-
gresses, bringing forth an offspring to be sacrificed on
the alternating confines of each ; as it w^ere three Hes-
perian Apples of Gold.
1 See J^amMicus, De Mysteriis, cap. xxvi.
1
O-L
MH
u
416 Laws and Conditions.
And thus the end of all adoration is attained, and
there the rational inquiry rests as in its proper object,
and there the true attraction of love is to be found,
which in this life never can be but by an ablation of
p ' •jfei For the attractions which are here supplied to
sensible perception, and for which so many pray, are
transitory, and the desire of them is nothing more than
the desire of images which lose ultimately the mag-
netic virtue imparted to them by the idea, and because
without it, when in the possession, they are found to
be neither truly desirable, nor sufficient, nor good.
But if, •« the HidifFereat concerns of life, men pray
D and for a general prosperity in public worship, hoping
to be heard, how much more should not the desire be
conceived effectual when addressed within the Living
f^crr^-^ Temple t® the Divine Light within ; when, in the con-
gress of allied mind, the Spirit wakes to consciousness ;
and, in thcLmniversal harmony conspiring, dissolves
the total life to love.
I called upon the Lord, exclaims the Psalmist, and
He heard me out of His holy temple, and my cry
came before Him, even unto His ears. I prayed, and
understanding was given me ; I called upon God, and
the Spirit of Wisdom came to me. — And hence it may
more readily be conceived, how prayer and self-sacri-
fice conspiring, mutually corroborate and confer on
each other a perfect efficacy in Divine works ; since,
even Matter itself is said to be extended to the desir- , /
able, i.e., to the Good; and tl^ugh this desire isX,^/
filled with as many goods as it is able to participate.
And when things have run up so far as to this Suffi-
cience they become tranquil in it, and are liberated
from the parturitions, and the desire which they na-
turally possess. Neither will it therefore be proper to
omit any part of this concord, or deny any faculty of
the mind its due exercise in the Preparation, since
these diversified parts of the Spirit are in their re-
nascent harmony made one ; thence again to be evolved
in catholic procession to complete the equilibriated cir-
cle of their Law. And this much mav suffice concern-
Mental Requisites and Impediments, 417
ing the nature of prayer, and the corroborative efficacy
of the Human Will, acting in concert with its Final
Cause to fulfil It.
The next difficulty presenting itself to the mind of
the student, after he has obtained a general knowledge
of the Hermetic ground, with a hopeful desire to
commence operations, has been to find suitable assist-
ance in the undertaking ; many have halted here a long
while unprofitably, for it is evident that without a
Subject to work with and reciprocate the design it re-
mains abortive, as a statue in the conception without
the marble to give it utterance.
The ascent to Unity is arduous, and the descent is
not undertaken in safety alone ; neither is there any
increase of the Spirit, as we have already shown, with-
out a medium and a bond, — Behold, two are better
than one, says the Preacher, because they have a good
reward for their labour, and nmtually assist each other
by the way : but for one alone, there is no end of his
labour; and for wdiom do I labour, saith he, and be-
reave my soul of good? This is vanity, yea, it is a
sore travail.^
But so much has been written, and with such a deal
of sophistication, about the Philosophic Vessel and
its multiform distillatory apparatus, of nerves, veins,
and alembics, that we should be in doubt where to
choose a guide in this respect sufficiently intelligible,
and who is at the same time trustworthy and of equal
fame ; one hint, how^ever, in the sum of Norton's Or-
dinal, may help to extricate us from the difficulty of
explaining many more,
Which are full derke,
To ordeyne instruments according to the werke.
As every Chaj^ter hath divers intents,
So hath it divers instruments.
Both in matter also in shape,
In concord tliat nothing may mishap ;
As workers of division and separation
Have small vessels for their operation ;
1 Eccles. iv. 8, 9.
E E
418 Laws and Conditions.
But vessels broad for humectation,
And some deale broad for circulation ;
But long vessels for ])recipitatio)i ;
But short and long serve sublimation ;
Narrow vessels and four inches bigU
Serve correction most properly.
Of vessels some be made of leade,
And some of cla^/ both quick and dead ;
Dead clay is called such a thing,
As hath suffered great roasting ;
Such meddled in potvder with good raw clay,
^iWjier abide and not go away ;
But many clayes will woll leap iwfier,
Such for vessels doe not desire.
Other vessels be made of stone,
For fier sufficient, but few or none ;
Among workemen, as yet is founde
In any county of English grounde,
Which of wafer nothing drinke shall
And yet abide driefier withall ;
Such Stones, large for our intente,
Were a precious instrument ;
But other vessels be made ol' glasse.
That spiritual matters should not outpasse ;
Of ashes, of feme in this lond everi each cue
Be made, but elsewhere be of stone :
Of our glasses, the better kinde,
The morning stuffe ye shall it finde,
Which was ashes the night before,
Standing in heate, all night and more,
The harder stuffe is called Freton,
Of clipping of other glasses it come ;
Tincture with ancaling of glasiers
Will ]iot perse him as they reherse.
By this doctrine chuse or refuse.
Take that which you woll unto your use,
For in figures of vessels kinde,
Everie man followeth his own minde ;
The best fashion is yc maie be sure,
She that concordeth with vessel of Nature ;
And figure that best concordeth with quantity,
And with all circumstances, to matter best is she,
And this sheweth best Albertus Magm/s,
In his Boke De Minei-alibus.
Hereof a secreate disclosed was.
By my good Master, to more and lesse,
Saying, Si Deus non dedisset nobis vas
Nihil dedisset, and that is glasse}
1 JSTorton's Ordinal, chap. vi. p. 94.
Mental Requisites and Impediments. 419
The Spirit finally constructs its own vessel and vi-
trifies it ; and since the artist is at liberty to make
choice according to convenience of his instruments in
the beginning, and each one would be likely to vary
in his preference, we avoid a superfluity of description ;
besides, of the many that may be called together, at
first, few, it will be understood, are chosen to proceed
beyond the exigencies of the preliminary Gross Work.
And then, will they not speak for themselves ? Those
philosophic vessels, like the planks of Argo, on occa-
sion, are still oracular ; being felled from the self-same
ground too, in the same classic grove, made vocal by
Apollo.
And metliiuks few potters within this Eeahn,
Have made at ony tyme such cunning ware.
As we, for our science, doe fashion and prepare.
Few ever formed such, nor the like of them,
Yet they are plain without wrinkle or hem ;
One within another, it is a pretty feate,
The Third without them to guide up the heate.
First then with the potter thou must begin,
Which cannot make what he hath never seen.
In order that thy vessels be made to thy mind
Stand by while he worketh more surety to finde
And shew him what to do by some sign or similitude,
And if his wits be not too dull and rude,
He will understand what thou dost meane.^
A humorous story is related in continuation, by this
author, of the difficulties he met w^ith in the practice
from indifferent assistance : and how% after so much
vexation and loss of time, he was obliged to take the
whole of the Manual labour upon himself.
For servants doe not passe, how our workes to frame.
But have more delighte to play and to game.
A good servant, saith Solomon, let him be unto thee,
As thine own hearte, in each degree :
For it is precious a faithful servant to finde,
Esteem him above treasure if he be to thy minde.
Not wreckless, but sober, wise and quiet,
Such a one were even for my dyet.^
^ Charnocke's Breviary of Philosophy, chap. i.
2 Idem, chap. iii.
E E 2
420 Laws and Conditions.
The value of such assistance may be better appre-
ciated when we come to speak of the Preparatory
Practice which Norton, naively, and without much
envy, describes, enumerating also the needful qualifi-
cation and numbers of individuals employed about the
Gross Work, as follows : —
The Second Concord with this Arte is,
When ye can finde apt Ministers
Noe Minister is apt to this intent
But he be sober, wise, and diligent ;
Trewe, and ivatchful, and also timerovs.
Close of tongue, of body not vicious,
Clenhj of hands, in tucking curious.
Not disobedient, neither presumptuous ;
Such servants may your workes of charge
Minister, and save from all outrage :
But trust me that two such servants or three
Male not sufficient for your work be ;
If your matter be of quantity reasonable,
Then eight such servants be convenable ;
But upon little quantitye, finde ye shall
Foure men able to performe alle :
Then one half oi them, must werke
AVhile the other half sleepeth or goeth to kerJie :
For of this Arte ye shall not have praije
But it he ministered as loell by night as daye ;
Continually, except the holi Sonday alone ;
From Evensong begin till Evensong be done.
And while they worke they must needs eschew
All ribaudry, else they shall finde this trewe,
That such mishap sliall them befall
They shall destroy part of their werks or all ;
Therefore all the ministers must be men.
Or els thei must be all weomen ;
Set them not occupied one with another,
Though some to you be sister or brother ;
iTet thei must have some good disporte,
Their greate labors to recomforte :
Then nothinge shall better avaunce
Your woi'ke than sliall this Concordaunce.
Yet Instruments useful there be more.
As be Furnaces ordcyned therefore ;
Old men imagined for this Arte
A special fiirnace for every parte
Every each devising after his owne thoughte
But many furnaces of them be noughte ;
Some were too broad, some too long,
Mani of them did nature wrong.
Mental Requisites and Impediments. 421
Therefore some furnaces may well be used,
But many of them must be refused.^
The true furnace has been described as a little sim-
ple shell ; thou mayest easily carry it, says Vaughan, in
one of thy Hands ; the glass is one, and no more ;
but philosophers have used two, and so mayest thou.
As for the work itself, it is no way troublesome ; a lady
may read the Arcadia, and at the same time attend
this philosophy without disturbing her fancy. For
my part, continues the philosopher, I think women
are fitter for it than men, for in such things they are
more neat and patient. And again, in the Lumen de
Lurnine — the excitation of the Fire is a very trivial,
slight, almost a ridiculous thing ; nevertheless, all the
secrets of corruption and generation are therein con-
tained.^ Geber calls this furnace Athanor ; and from
his example, others have described the same with a
misleading subtlety, little commendable or instructive
to any.
But who knoiveth the power, the working, and kinde
O^ every furnace, he maye well trexdh finde ;
But he which thei-eof dwelleth in ignorance.
All his worke faleth upon chance.
Noe man is sure to have his Intent
"Without full concord of arte with hys instrument.
Mani more instruments occupied ye shall see
Than in this chapter now rehearsed be,
Which ye must ordayne by good or sad advice,
And prove them before hand, if ye be wise.^
After showing that indeterminate instruments must
be employed in the beginning, until the determinate
shall declare themselves as by the Spirit they are
proved fit, Norton proceeds in due order to point out
the best local and other outward circumstances for
1 Norton's Ordinal, cliaj^. vi.
2 See Yaughan's Lumen de Lumine, &c. ; Coelum Terrae, p.
118, &c. ; and Sendivogius's New Light ; and Eiren^us's Introitus
Apertus, chap. viii. and xxiv, '.^q_.
^ Ordinal, chap. vi.
422 Laws and Conditions.
carrying on the different Hermetic operations, as fol-
lows : —
The Fourth Concord is full notable
Eetween this arte and places convenable.
Some places must needs be ever more drie,
Close from aier and no waies windy ;
Some must be darke and dim of sight,
In which Sun-beams none maye light ;
But for some places., the trewth so is,
Thei cannot have too much brightnes :
Some places must needes be moist and cold,
For some workes as Auctors toulde ;
But in our workes in everie place,
Wind will hurt in everie case :
Therefore for every worke in season
Ye must ordaine places by reason.
Philosophers said, by their engine,
How it should be wrought within locks 7}yne.
Astrologers said it was a grace
To finde a fitting ivorking j)lace :
For manie things will wondrous doe
In some places and elsewliere not soe ;
But contrarie wonders be of one thinge.
In contrarie coimtries wrought without leasing ;
"Whereof none other cause maye appeare.
But only contrarye places of the spheare :
Wherto places contrairye of the grounde.
To them concordant and obedient be founde ;
Hereof great evidence and wittnes full cleare.
In the Magnet's stone openly doth appeare,
AV'hose north pointe drawoth towards his conntnje,
AVhich uader the South Star driveth needles away.
AV^herefore wuse men which for this Arte soughte.
Found some places concordant, some places not.'
Secrecy having heen a principal object with those
practising this Art, difficulty was found often to secure
this, and at the same time su})ply the other conditions,
which vary with the constitution and instinct of the
spiritual guide. Just such a locality as Virgil appoint-
ed for his Bees, has been mentioned as desirable with
all his appropriate allegorical exceptions of corrupt and
evil associates. Strong currents of air are well known
' Ordinal, chap. vi.
Mental Requisites and Impediments. 423
to disturb communion ; and the entranced Subject is
more or less susceptible cf all imaginative impressures,
which, even after their act has passed away, hang and
pollute the ether of their pertinacious abode, as adepts
well testify, and Cornelius Agrippa, in his Occult Phi-
losophy^ diffusely expounds, showing that truly
It is a grace
To finde a fitting working-place.
The following lessons of an English Adept, neither
antique nor envious, may not be uninstructive in con-
clusion of the rest. — If thy desire leads thee on to
the practice (that is of the ultimate Philosophic
Work), says Vaughan, consider well with thyself what
manner of man thou art, and what it is that thou
wouldst do : For it is no small matter. Thou hast
resolved with thyself to be a co-operator with the
living God, and to minister to Him in his work of
generation. Have a care, therefore, that thou dost
not hinder his work ; for if thy heat exceeds the
natural proportion, thou hast stirred up the wrath of
the moist natures, and they will stand up against the
central fire, and the central fire against them, and there
will be a terrible division in the Chaos ; but the sweet
spirit of Peace, the true eternal Quintessence, will de-
part from the elements, leaving both them and thee
to confusion ; neither will he apply himself to that
Matter as long as it is in thy violent destructive
Hands. We should always remember that doctrine of
Zeno, that Nature gave us one tongue and two ears,
that we might hear much and speak little. Let not
any man therefore be ready to vomit forth his own
shame and ignorance ; let him first examine his know-
ledge, and especially his practice, lest upon the expe-
rience of a few violent knacks he presume to judge of
Nature in her very sobrieties. But if thou knowest
the principal First Matter, know also for certain thou
hast discovered the Sanctuary of Nature. There is
nothing between thee and her treasures but the Door :
424 Laws and Conditions.
that indeed must be opened. Have therefore a chari-
table seraphic mind, charitable and not destructive to
thyself. There is in every true Christian a spice, I will
not say a grain, of faith, for then we could work miracles.
But know that as God is the Father, so Charity is the
nurse of Faith. For there springs from charitable
works, (fi'om the effects of spiritual beneficence,) a
hope of heaven ; and who is he that will not gladly be-
lieve what he hopes to obtain? On the contrary,
there springs no hope at all from the works of dark-
ness, and by consequence no faith, but that faith of
devils to believe and tremble. — Settle not in the lees
and puddles of the u'orld. Have thy heart in heaven
and thy hands upon earth Ascend in piety and de-
scend in charity. For this is the Nature of Light and
the way of the children of it. Thou must live, as says
Agrippa, according to God and the angels, rejecting
all things that are dissimilar to the heaven ; otherwise
thou canst have no communion with superiors. Lastly,
Unas esto non solus. Avoid the multitude, as well of
passions as of persons. And, in conclusion, I would
have thee understand that every day is a contracted
year, and that each year is as an extended day. An-
ticipate the year in the day, and lose not a day in the
year. Make use of indeterminate agents till thou
canst find a determinate one : the many wish well, but
one only loves. Circumferences spread, but centres
contract : so superiors dissolve and inferiors coagulate ;
stand not long in the su)i nor long in the shade, where
extremes meet, there look for complexions. Learn
from thy errors to be infallible, and from thy misfor-
tunes to be constant. There is nothing stronger than
Perseverance, for it ends in miracles.^
Abundant evidence might here be brought to bear ;
but sufficient has been said for suggestive purposes,
and addition would be as little likely to stimulate
incjuiry without ])ractical information as to satisfy the
incredulous. Nothing is more generally insisted on,
^ Aiiinia INlagia Abscondita, p. 51, itc. ; Ca-luiii Terra-, p. 137.
Mental Requisites and Impediments. . 425
next to benevolence and rectitude of intention, than
perseverance for this experiment ; and if to the fore-
going instructions we add in sum, that effects ration-
ally investigated lead into their causes, and that as the
plant of its seed is reared, and according to its proper
species germinates in a congenial soil, so in this phi-
losophy the end is implied in the beginning, and the
purpose is by the product made manifest — the motive,
through the resulting action, by the metaphysical
cause, into physical effect ;
Qui capit, Ille Sapit.
And with this advice we conclude our introduction,
as it may be called, to the Sphinx's lair. — The first
link in the chain of vital causes moves, as we apply
the Master Key.
PORTTJS
Explicit, at Pbaxis ma^ualis c-eteea pandet.
PART IV.
THE HERMETIC PRACTICE.
429
CHAPTER I.
Of the Vital Purification, commonly called
The Gross Work.
Dii sudoribus vendunt Artes. — Arcanum Ignis Jquce Resp. 6.
NEXT^.the preliminary aids already noted, and a
sufficient theory to begin with, follows the Pre-
paration of the Philosophic Subject, which is per-
formed, says the Monk Basil, by operation of the
Hands, that some real effect may be produced. From
preparation arises knowledge, even such as opens all
the fundamentals of Alchemy and Medicine. Opera-
tion of the hands, continues he, requires a diligent
application of itself, but the praise of the science con-
sists in experience ; hence that notable maxim — Phy-
sician, heal thyself. But the difference of these, ana-
tomy (that which is spiritual) distinguisheth : operation
shows thee how all things may be brought to light
and exposed to sight visibly ; but knowledge, i. e. expe-
rience, reveals the practice and shows further how to
proceed, and that whence the true practitioner is, and
is no other than a confirmation of the previous work :
because the operation of the hands manifests some-
thing that is good, and draws the latent and hidden
nature outwards, and brings it to light for good. And
thus, as in Divine things the way of the Lord is to be
prepared, so also, in these (spiritual) things, the ivay
has to be opened and prepared, that no error be made
from the right path : but that progress may be made
without deviation in the direct way to health. —
AJanual operation is chiefly required, therefore ; with-
out which, indeed, every other operation, like a ship
without ballast, floats and is uncertain. But it is difficult
to express this with a pen ; for more is learned by otice
430 HERMETIC PRACTICE.
seeing the work done, than can be taught by the irriting
of many pages}
Although the Alchemists have written diffusely on
the Manual Practice, and delivered many Keys,
whereby, as they say, we may enter into the sanc-
tuary of philosophy and open her interior recesses ;
yet the first way of approach and shut entrance to
these has not been unfolded, nor would it be possible,
we think, for any one to discover the Practice from
their books alone. For although it is called a play of
children, and represented as a very trivial, slight, al-
most a ridiculous thing, one linear decoction through-
out and dissolution by line, yet neither instinct nor
reason would probably suggest, without instruction,
the tractive artifice now made publicly easy of en-
trancing the senses in their own medial light.
But recent observation has proved various means of
effecting this, and determining the natural life to an in-
traction of its beams, by the hand or eye of another mes-
merising,or by a passive fixed gaze ; the virtues of ether
and chloroform too are familiar, and in these days igno-
rant] y preferred to the former expedients, since their
effects are considered analogous and more easily sup-
plied ; which however are very different, as proved by
the contrariety of their cause. For, whereas the one,
overcoming in light, oxygenates, purifies, and sublimes
the arterial blood, and in proportion the intellectual
powers ; the other contrariwise, by influxion of dark-
ness, drowns the oxygenating spirit, prostrates and con-
founds the mental powers, and, further overwhelming,
often produces syncope and death. But we have no
space to dwell here on errors that daily experience
promises to remove. The ancients appear to have
been acquainted with other analogous means and me-
dia of curative repute ; other revolutionary arts, too,
by which the human spirit may be involuted and con-
verted to its proper spheres. But to eft'ect this was.
' B.Valentinii Currus Triumphalis Antimonii, sub initio ; Kircli-
ringiug in Basilio Idem nota.
THE GROSS WORK. 431
as we have repeatedly shown, a beginning only of the
Hermetic art ; the medium in its natural state is vola-
tile, immanifest, phantastic, irrational, and impotent,
compared with what it subsequently is able and by
artificial conception suffers itself to become. The Al-
chemists, we repeat therefore, did not remain satisfied
with a few passes of the hand, or any first phenomena
whatever, but they proceeded at once scientifically to
purify, depriving the ether of its wild affections and
impressures by a dissolution of the circulating body
in its own blood. For this is that Brazen Wall cele-
brated by Antiquity, which surrounds our Heaven and
must be scaled, and through past before any one can
hope to discern the equilibriate felicity of Being within.
— Take the occult Nature, which is our Brass, says
Albertus, and wash it that it may be pure and clean ;
dissolv^e, distill, sublime, incerate, calcine, and fix it ;
the whole of which is nothing else than a successive
dissolution and coagulation to make the fixed vola-
tile, and volatile fixed. The beginning of the whole
work is a perfect solution.^
Now, although there are many ways of including
the sensible medium and of unfolding the interior
hght temporarily, yet for the Purification we read but
of one way, called by the Adepts, Manual, and their
Linear icay, which supersedes all other fi-om begin-
ning to end of the Dissolution. And, according to
their general testimony, and for other explicable rea-
sons, we judge that the Hand was the instrument em-
ployed, not only to impart the Spirit as a natural gift,
but by a continual mechanic trituration, as it were, to
dissolve and ultimately obliterate its innate defects. The
Mercury of philosophers, says LuUy, comes not but by
help of ingenuity, and the Manual operations of man.
And Vaughan says, Nature is not moved by theory
alone, but by sagacious Handicraft and human assist-
ance.— Nature cannot of herself enter into the disso-
1 Secret. Tract. Albert! Mag. in fine ; Ars Aurifer«6, p. 130, and / ^
another. /
432 HERMETIC PRACTICE.
lution, says the author of the Filiun Ariadne, because
she has no Hands, — The Hand, says Van Helmont, is
the instrument of instruments, which the soul hkewise
useth, as a means by which it bears its image into
operation.^ We could bring together a multitude of
passages showing the literal application of these, but
have a doubt about the utihty, since they would prove
nothing to unbelievers ; and those who are disposed to
inquire for themselves, looking to context and proba-
bility, may be i:eadily convinced. We are less than ever
anxious at this late stage of inquiry to persuade others,
or induce trial of the practice where theoretic power is
deficient ; but leave the incredulous therefore to their
incredulity, until faith has independently estabhshed
the fact over their heads. For neither will the pre-
lude of Hermetic practice be attractive to the idle, but
continual labour is exacted throughout the perform-
ance— patient toil, skill, unremitting attention, in the
execution, and a free will to the discovery of error,
without discordant slurring or disguise.
He that neglects the knowledge, being disheartened
by the difficulties thereof, shall never find where the
disease lieth, says Crollius, for these Chemical Secrets
will never be fingered by those slothful or sottish de-
spisers of them, by reason of their indisposition and
unaptness for Manual operation. As also of the profane,
lewd, and unworthy, there will be little danger of their
apprehending and discerning Divine Mysteries ; because
they want the spirit of Wisdom, and are not quick of un-
derstanding in these things.^ — Some indeed, amongst
the ignorant and pseudo-chemists, says Eiren^us, ima- \(^^'
gine that our w^ork is a mere recreation and amuse-
ment from beginning to end, holding indeed the
labour of this artifice in light account. In the work
which they account so easy, however, we observe they
reap an empty harvest for their idling pains ; we know,
^ R. Lullii Theoria et Practica ; Yauglian, Coolum Terra; ; Le
Filet d' Ariadne, circa med..; Norton, Ordinal, c. iv. Helmont,
Oreatrike, Introd. and cap. c.
^ Crollius Phil. p. 10.
THE GROSS WORK. 433
next the Divine blessing and a good principle to begin
with, that it is by assiduity and industry that we ac-
comphsh the First Work. Nor is the work so easy
that it should be considered as a mental recreation,
either (since a concentrated attention is necessary) , but
according to the labour we do likewise reckon the
reward ; as Hermes says — I spared no labour either of
mind or body; which also verifies that proverb of
Solomon — The desire of the idle shall cause him to
perish. Neither is it wonderful that so many chemical
students were in former times reduced to poverty, since
they spared labour, but no expense. But, continues
the same author, we, who know the truth, have
worked, and we know beyond doubt that there is no
work more tedious than our First Operation, concern-
ing which Morien gravely warns King Calid, saying
that many philosophers had been overcome with the
fatigue of this work. Neither would I have these
things understood figuratively, continues he ; I am not
speaking here indeed of the commencement of the
Supernatural Work, but of things as wejirst find them :
and to ivell dispose the ;//r//^tv, this truly is a labour and
a work.^
The work of philosophers, says Arnold, is to dissolve
the Stone in its own Mercury, that it may be reduced
into its first Matter. — Opus namque philosophorum,
est dissolvere Lapidem in suum Mercurium, ut in pri-
mam reducatur materiam.^ This labour has, by the
author of the Hermetic Secret, Urbigeranus, and
some others, been styled a Labour of Hercules. For
there is such a mass of heterogeneous superfluities
adhering to our subject, that nothing short of disso-
lution can give it rest ; and^ wMeli Adepts say, it v/ill '"IKJIaoA-
be entirely impossible to accomplish without the Theory
of their Arcanum, in which they show the medium by
which the Royal Diadem may be extracted from our
Sordid Subject. And even when this is known, con-
tinual labour is required in the application, lest re-
^ Introit. Apert. cap. viii. ; Morieni de Trans. MelaL
2 Arnoldi llosar, cap. ix. lib. i.
F F
434 Hermetic Practice.
maining in any pavt, if left alone, before the total solu-
I tion of her enigma, the Sphinx should retrieve her
X- / dominion unawares and frustrate the work begun —
(JL Tere, coque, et reitera, et non te 4^eat — Grind, coct,
' says the wise author of the Rosarium, and reiterate
. your labour and be not weary. ^ Work not to-day and
be sorry to-morrow ; but lay sorrow aside and continue
your labour steadfast unto the end, lest perad venture
God hoodwink and make open the Light, says the
Spirit to Dr. Dee ; the labour is equal to the work, and
to fight against the Powers of Darkness requires great
force. '^ And let him who would learn, says Van Hel-
mont, buy coals and fire, and discover those things
which watching successive nights, and expenses, have
afforded to philosophers.^ Kings and powerful princes
have not been ashamed to set their hand to the work
in order to seek out, by their sweat and labours, the
secret of Nature, which they have faithfully be-
queathed.^
Ardua prima via est ; et quii vix mane recentes
Enitantur eqiii.'^
Fresh horses there are verily needed to this Celestial
Ploughshare and laborious assistance for a toil that is
incessant, to clear the wasted field of human life, and
harrow it for a more congenial growth : nor once nor
twice ; but many times the labour must be repeated,
as each dying is renewed into a better life. This the
wise poet, in his Georgics, teaches ; and this recals to
mind the advice of Norton and his brother Adepts
about the choice of servants, their capacities and qua-
lifications, which moreover are tried in a double,
single, manifold, and triply complicated sense. All the
operators, says Zachary, supply themselves with three or
four, sometimes ten, furnaces or more — as for solution,
' Eosar. cap. iii
- Dee's Couversat. sub. init.
2 Oreatrike, fol. p. 710.
* Digbv's Luc-enia Salis, Dialog.
^ Ovidii :Metam. lib. i. Gi.
The Gross Work. 435
sublimation, calcination- -and the wr//^<^r passes througli
vessels innumerable ; but not all would avail without
a Method in their distribution ; one would not advance
in effect beyond another, unless the operation were
altered ; there is indeed but one way of working, in one
matter, one linear way throughout, one vessel uniform
throughout, excepting removal. Unicus operandi mo- /
dus in unico vase, in unica fornacula, praetei^ moti- - G-- >
onem, donee decoctio compleatur.^
The Preparing Spirit dissolves the body of Light,
and cleanses it from the corrupting causes, and extracts
a Second Spirit subsisting and tinging in the body, and
reduces the bodies by dissolution into itself; and these,
says the Adept, are the advantages of the Spirit pre-
paring its body and extracting from it the tinging
spirit : for this Argent vive was at first gross, unclean,
fugitive, being mingled with extraneous Sulphurs ; but
by the operation of Art it is cleansed and renewed,
and coagulated by its own internal sulphur, red and
white, and is double ; not viscous, but acidulated, sub-
tle, and very penetrative, resolving the bodies mineral.
But our evidence runs in advance ; as we remark
by the way that this Argent vive, which is de-
cocted lineally, is generated pontically, as it were
by a reciprocal alternation, distributing its advanced / /
virtue from hand to hand. — And know, says Eireneus, 'Q^l
that the exact preparation of the philosophic Eagles
may be considered the first degree of perfection in this
Art, in the knowledge of which there is required also
some sagacity of mind. For do not suppose that this
science has become known to any of us by chance, or
by a happy guess of the imagination; but we have
worked and sweated daily, and passed many sleepless
nights, much labour and sweafuig iwXy ^'Q have under-
gone in the pursuit of truth. You, therefore, that are
but beginning, as a tyro, in this study, be assured that
nothing can be achieved in the First Operation without
sweating and much labour. In the Second, however,
' Zacharius Opusc. Lucerna Salis, p. 96.
F F 2
43(J Hermetic Practice.
Nature alone operates, and without any imposition of
hands, by the sole assistance of a wt/I-reguiiitt'd ex-
ternal Jwe}
Avicen, in Porta, wrote, if ye remember,
How ye shoulde proceede perfection to engender,
Trewly teaching as the pure treuth was,
Comedas lit bibas, etbibas ut comedas ;
Eatt as it drinketh and drink as it doth eafce,
And in the meane season, take it a perfect sweate.
Rasis set the dietary and spake some deale far,
Non tamen comedat res festiuanter ;
Let not your matters eate over hastilie,
But wisely consume their foode leisnrelie.
Hereof the prophet made wondrous mention,
If ye apply it to this intention
Visitasti terram et inebriasti eam,
Multiplicasti locupletare eam,
Terram fructiferam in salsuginem
Et terram sine aqua in exitus aquarum.
If I have plenty of meate and drinke.
]\Ien must wake when they desire to winke ;
For it is labor of watch and paines greate,
Alsoe the foode is full costly meute.
Therefore all poore men beware, says Arnolde,
For this Art 'longeth to greate men of the worldo.
Trust to his words, ye poore men all.
For I am witness, that soe ye finde shall.
Esto longanimus et suavis, said he,
For hasty men th' end shall never see.
The length of clensing matters infected
Deceiveth much people for that is unsuspected.
Excess for one half quarter of an hour
May destroy all ; therefore chief succour,
In primum pro quo et ultimum pro quo non
To know the simperings of our Stone,
Till it may no more simper do, nor cease,
"/mA^^^^^^ -^^*^ y®^ ^*^^g continuance may not cause increase.
' ' I Remember that water will bubble and boyle,
yy^ But butter must simj^er and also oyle ;
' And so with long leisure it will waste,
And not with bubbling made in haste. ^
Frequent advices are given against haste in the pre-
paration, lest the centres should be stirred up before
^ Introitus Apertus, cap. vii.
^ Ordinal, chap. iv.
The Gross Work. 437
the circumferences are made ready to conceive them ;
and we may observe that CEdipus, he who of yore over-
came the Sphinx, was lame and impotent in his feet,
signifying by this (amongst other abstruse alkisions),
that we should not make too much haste to the solu-
tion of her riddle, lest she should expound herself with-
out a proper understanding unawares — Alciatus, paint-
ing a dolphin wreathed about an anchor, for an emblem,
wrote these w^ords — Festina Lente — Make not too
much haste — which admonition applies not only well
to the common affairs of life, but especially to the
trituration of the Philosophic Subject, which ought to
be slow, gentle, and continuous.
Gutta cavat lapidem non vi sed saepe cadendo.
And therefore the Adepts, again and again, admonish
and caution, lest by too great excitation the internal
agent awakening should cause a disseveration in the
Chaos, and the two Principles stand up one against the
other, before the intended mastery is secure. — Cause,
therefore, wings to be prepared for the Matter by Juno,
. Bacchus, and Vulcan ; but as you love your Life, says
fee, permit it not to fly suddenly, rather deliver it to
Mercury, to be instructed by him gradually to accus-
tom itself to flying ; yea, bind it with a cord, lest (as
a bird got out of its cage and past your reach) it
through ignorance approach too near the Sun, and like
Icarus, having its unproved feathers burnt, fall head-
long into the sea ; but after you have detained it for
its due time, loose its bonds that it may fly and come
to those fortunate Islands towards which all the sons . f nJ^J^
of Art direct their sight, and whereunto all Adepti«te^ ^/ \^^^^^
aim to arrive as to their long-desired and sought for /
harbour.^ Take the flying bird, says Hermes, and
drown it flying; and divide and separate it from its
redness, which holds it in death ; draw it forth and
repel it from itself, that it may live and answer thee
not by flying away indeed to the region above, but
truly by forbearing to fly. For if thou shalt dehver
^ Kirchringius, in Basilio, Latin, 12mo. p. 160; Eng. 74.
438 Hermetic Practice.
it out of its prison, after this thou shalt govern it
according to Reason and according to the days specified;
then it will become ajl companion to thee, and by it
thou shalt become to be an honoured Lord. Extract
from the ray its shadow and its obscurity, by which
the clouds hang over it and corrupt, and keep away
the light by means of its constriction also, and fiery
redness, it is burned. Take, my son, this watery cor-
rupted redness, which is, as a live coal holding the fire,
which if thou shalt withdraw so often until the redness
is made pure, then it will associate with thee, by whom
it w^as cherished and in whom it rests. ^
He that would seek tincture most specious,
Must needly avoid all things wild and vicious ;
Of manifold means each hath his property
To do his office after his degree,
With them hid things be outset
Some that will help, and some that woulde let.
AVho woulde have trew worke may no labour spare,
Neither yet his purse, though he make it full bare ;
And in the Gross AVorke he is furthest behind,
That dayly desireth the end thereof to finde.
If the Gross Worke'with all his circumstance
Were done in three years it were a blessed chance.^
This is meant chiefly in reference to the Second
Operation, and the periods are often to be understood
metaphorically with respect to the discovery of the
philosophic Salt. Some have met the Light sooner,
some later, and the natural periods are protracted by
faulty conditions from the commencement, by the in-
disposition of patients, as by the ignorance of agents,
which things also are more or less implied. Years
have been employed by some in the Preparation, the
perplexity of the records have added to the natural
difficulty, and to others it has never been vouchsafed.
Eireneus, mentioning his case as remarkably favoured,
says that in the course of two years and a half the
whole Arcanum was revealed to him. — I made, says
he, not five wrong experiments in it before I found the
^ Tract. Aur. cap. ii.
^ Norton's OrdinalK cap. iv.
The Gross Work. 439
true way, although in some particular turnings of the
Eneheiresis I erred often ; yet, so that in my error I
knew myself a master, and in no less than two full
years and a half, of a vulgar ignoramus I became a
true Adept, and have the secret through the goodness
of God. ^
It is to be imagined that the better foundation there
is laid in theory from the commencement, other things
being equal, the surer, easier, and more rapid would
be the result ; but from books, general principles only
can be gathered, and instruction from particular expe-
rience. The working theory, as we long ago suggested,
can be obtained through the practice only ; for the
way developes itself in the practice by rational inqui-
sition of the Light within. And this may be a matter
of gratulation to students, •tbui- whilst adepts are so
very abstruse and envious in their disguises, to learn
that the Hermetic Art is not so much the offspring of
natural intelligence as of involved thought. Ab actio-
jiibus procedit speculatio is a famous maxim of Aris-
totle's and eminently applies to this philosophy, where
each discovery opens into a new field of inquiry, and
the fruit of contemplation is ever more sown in order
to bring about the solution of its proper dilemma in
the explanatory growth of truth.
Not all by reading, uor by long sitting still ;
Nor fond conceit, nor working all by will ;
But, as I said, by grace it is obtained :
Seek grace therefore, let foola be refrained.^
Seek grace ; and, by importunity of reason, seek for
the clue of Truth within the Spirit's life ; if haply she
may find it, or we be able to discover whether she
have it or not — That which analyzes even must be
analyzed ; that, returning analytically, it may resolve
the separable Selfhood and reiterate the same by al-
ternation until it arrives at the inseparable Unit of
Truth. — Liber lib rum explicit — And this is the way of
^ Hipley Revived, p. 87.
^ See Kelly's Verses in Ashmole's Theatrum.
440 Hermetic Practice.
rational permeation, by the Understanding of Nature,
into her Causal Light.
So shalt thou instant reach the realms assigu'd
In wondrous ships self-moved, instinct with mind ;
No helm secures their course, no pilot guides ;
Like man intelligent they plough the tides,
Conscious of every coast and every bay.
That lies beneath the Sun's all-seeing ray ;
And, veiled in clouds impervious to the eye.
Fearless and rapid through the deep they fly ! ^
And that court of King Alcinous, to which Ulysses
became admitted, is the dominion of Intellect, which,
in the description of these Phoeacian ships, also, is
admirably signified ; the hyperbole, in fact, would be
absurd without other reference, and the well-illumined
Taylor has shown, in his Dissertation, that the \;ho\e of
the Odyssey is an allegory pregnant with latent mean-
ing and the recondite Wisdom of antiquity.
Here again, then, we observe that it is not from a
moderate study or a few spontaneous revelations of the
Spirit's \drtue, or natural instinct, that we should pre-
sume to judge of the Hermetic JNIystery ; since brazen
walls and adamantine are between, and all the breadth
of that vast sea to be passed over before we can hope
to set foot upon the royal coast ; a sea —
Huge, horrid, vast — where scarce in safety sails
The best built ship, tho' Jove inspires the gales.^
Even with these advantages, and after the first flood-
gates and barriers of sense are overpast, greater ob-
stacles await him, and Herculean labours, who dares,
approaching to the Nether confines, to make choice of
Light. No one may hope, without toil and perseve-
rance, to obtain it. Wisdom is the reward of volun-
tary and arduous research. Perseus passed through
dangerous encounters, strugghng with monstrous Chi-
meras ; and Theseus before Ariadne vouchsafed her
love and assistance ; Bacchus, Ulysses, Hercules, and
' Pope's Homer's Odyssey, lib. viii. 55, &c.
- Idem.
la^
The Gross Work. 441
the rest ; Jason, also, passing through many hopes and
fears, and performing dangerous feats and supernatural
labours, before Medea led him to the Field of Mars.
For the Gross "Worke is foul in lier kinde,
Aud full of perills as ye shall finde,
No man's wit can him so availe
But that sometimes he shall make a faile :
As well the layman, so shall the clerke,
And all that labor in the gross w^orke.
Wherefore Anaxagoras said trewly thus —
Nemo prima fronte reperitur discretus.^
They all set forth expectant heroes only in the begin-
ning, content also with the company of their rude de-
serts, and it is satisfactory to learn with all this pro-
spective discouragement, that
He that shall end it once for certaiue
Shall never have neede to begin agaiue.
Much I might write of the Nature of Mynes,
Which in the gross icorke be but engines ;
For in this worke find ye nothing shall,
But handle crafte, called Art mechanical.
Wherein a hundred wayes and moe,
Te may commit a fault as ye therein goe.
Wlierefore believe what old Auctors tell ;
Without experience ye may not do well.
Consider all circumstances, and set your deligte
To keep Uniformity of all things requisite ;
Use one manner of vessel in matter and in shape,
Beware of Commixtion that nothing miscape.
And hundredth foidtes in speciall
Te may make under this warning generall.
Nethlesse this doctrine woll suffice
To him that can in practice be wise.
If your ministers be witty and trew,
Such shall not need your workes to renew. ^
And here we may bethink ourselves how Flamiuel V
learned discretion from his Second Book, and how
Eiren^us promises a guide, and describes him too in
his Ripley Revived. And, in Vulcan's labours, says
,J£8knrath, I have worked indefatigably with no small
expense, but, thanks to God, my own alone; now in
companionship, and now not ; both happily sometimes,
^ Ordinal, cap. iv.
2 Idem.
442 Hermetic Practice.
sometimes without success. But how should he do
well who never has done amiss ? What was wrong
taught me what w'as right, from day to day one book
throicing light iipoji another, I was enabled to inter-
pret them. / observed what nature taught by the
ministry of art. O thou edifying Cabal of much
profit ! O thou Physico-Chemical Cabal ! how hath
she not advanced me ! Meanwhile, carefully keeping
note of conversations, experiments, and conceptions of
my own as well as others : when ye, my cotempo-
raries, were idly dozing, I was watching and at work.
Meditating earnestly day and night on w^hat I had seen
and learnt — sitting, standing, recumbent, by sunshine
and moonshine, by banks, in meadows, streams,
woods, and mountains.' And thus w'c read, in the
Hermetic at Triumph, how the Stone of Philosophers,
which is a pure petrifaction of the Spirit, is prepared
by those who trace nature with the assistance of the
Lunar Vulcan ; by which Lunar Vulcan, as we long
ago suggested, is meant the first prepared Subject,
which is also called Diana, and the secret natural interior
Fire of Adepts, and because this same Lunar Caustic
is brought into act by an exterior excitation. — Sol est
Fons totius caloris, Luna autem Domina Humiditatis.
The ethereal humidity nourishes the Solar^ Light and
educates it ; and this is that Nemean Lion said to be
born of her foam.
AVith respect to the rule of Investigation, however,
having opened thus much, we would add a few re-
marks, for neither is it said to be expedient to inquire
about Ends so much as about things pertaining to
ends, the Artist holding his right intention from the
beginning. This principle Aristotle, in his Ethics, as-
tutely argues. For neither, he obsen^es, does a phy-
sician consult whether he shall heal the sick, nor a rhe-
torician whether he shall persuade, nor the politician
whether he shall establish an equitable legislation, nor
does any one of remaining characters consult about
' Amph. Sap. Etern. in medio.
The Gross Work. 443
the End. But, proposing a certain end, they consider
how and by what Medium it may be obtained. If
also it appears that this end is to be obtained through
many media, they consider through which of them it
may be obtained in the easiest and best manner. But
if through one medium they consider how it may be
accomphshed, and through what Hkewise this may be
obtained until they arrive at the First Cause which is
discovered in the last place. For he who consults,
continues the artful moralist, appears to investigate
and analyze in the above-mentioned manner, as if he
were investigating and analyzing a diagram.^
Even so, in the Hermetic Inquiry, he who consults,
the end being proposed which is not immediately in his
power, investigates the Medium by which he hopes to
obtain it ; and if this Medium be not entirely enhghten-
ed, he explores another, and further till he discovers the
first Medium which is immediately in his power, in the
discovery of which inquiry terminates, and the work,
beginning from thence, passes into accomplishment.
That Medium, therefore, which is last in the analysis
is first in generation, being proved able to the accom-
plishment, and of the many called to the consultation
of means few are chosen to proceed with the Philoso-
phic Work. For philosophers were not wont to in-
vestigate trifles, but they inquired about such things
as tend to purification and the method of perfect-
ing life. And when things, thus truly eligible, are
the objects of inquiry, the Divine Will being con-
cihated. Wisdom runs lovingly by her own rule to
fulfil it ; and hence our deeds and discourses extend
their Hands, as it were, to assist us in our assent, and
Will is the greatest power of purgation. And when
That which from the first is efficacious returns into
its proper Efficient, how much more will not those
strokes, reverberating, be effectual to overcome ?
Ille plus Cheieon justissimus omnes
Inter Nubigenas et Magni Doctor Achillis.
This is he who, in his double capacity of Power and
1 jS'iclioraacbean Ethics, book iii. cap. iii.
444 Hermetic Practice.
Motive in alliance, corrects and educates the Heroic
Fire, tames and directs its illimitable vdrtue, and rectifies
the Armed Magnet by an infallible rule. And that
Intellect rides through the abyss of the sensual mo-
narchy, secure in its Ether ; and, as a ship upon the
stormy seas is directed by the beacon-light, it follows
until integrally related, when, centre meeting centre,
the consciousness transcends in revolutionary Light.
We know that, in common life, the hands perform
innumerable offices and image mind about, by mate-
rial subjects, in a variety of ways. And as the mind
more easily retains that which the hand before has
noted by its exterior sense; so, in Hermetic works, the
hand is found best able to express and impart what
the mind has well premeditated : and thence, from its
replenished members, thought carries itself by volun-
tary motion into effect. Such were those Dactyli
Idrei, literally the Fingers of Mount Ida, so renowned
in fable for their medicinal and magic skill, who
worked, it is said, at the foot of the Parnassian Moun-
tain to exhibit by their incessant fiery artifice the me-
tallic veins therein imbedded.^ So Pallas is fabled, by
the help of Vulcan, to have been brought forth from
Jove ; for, without the instrumentality of Motion,
which the lame god personates, the Fabricative Intel-
lect is not born. But if thereafter it should happen,
says the wise Adept, that Pluto's Palace should be ex-
posed to any one together with Minerva's Artifice, or
if Vulcan stands together with her at the Altar there,
the Association is ominous.
Coexistunt namque naturalia opera mentali splendore,
Vitifer Ignis,
Centre incitans seipsum lumine resouante.
Fontanum alium, qui Einpyreum mundum ducit,
Centrum quo omues, usque quo forte equales fueriut.^
To instruct the ignorant is no part of the present
object; but to stimulate the inquiry of such as are
1 See Bell's Pantlieon, p. 209.
2 Oracula Chaldeor. Muudus, Anima, Natura.
The Gross Work. 445
already enlightened, and to advance the faithful in the
pursuit of truth, we conclude with such instructions
as may be finally needful concerning this said hyper-
physical Gross Work.
The Second part of the Gross Work is described by
Vaughan as one of the greatest subtleties of the Art ;
Cornelius Agrippa, he observes, knew the First Pre-
paration, and has clearly discovered it ; but the diffi-
culty of the Second made him almost an enemy to his
own profession. By the Second Work we are to un-
derstand, therefore, the Solution of the Philosophic
Salt (/. e. the voluntary bond) ; which is a secret which
Agrippa did not rightly know, as it appears by his
practice at Malines, and as he confesses in the first
book of Occult Philosophij, that he could not increase
the transmutative virtue, nor would Natalius teach
him for all his frequent and serious entreaties. This
was it, adds his disciple, that made his necessities so
vigorous and his purse so weak, that I can seldom find
him at full fortune. But in this he is not alone: Ray-
mond Lully received not this mystery either from
Arnold, but, in his first practices, he followed the com-
mon tedious process which after all is scarcely profit-
able. Here he met with a drudgery almost invincible.
Ripley also laboured for new inventions to putrify this
Red Salt which he enviously calls his Gold; and his Art
w^as to expose it to alternate fits of heat and cold, but
in this he is singular ; Faber is so wise that he will
not understand him. Let us return then to Raymond
Lully, who became so great a master that he performed
the Solution in nine days, and this secret he had from
God himself since this is his profession. — Nos, says he,
de prima ilia nigredine a paucis cognita benignum
Spiritum extrahere affectantes, pugnam ignis vincen-
tem, et nos victum, licet sensibus corporis multoties
palpa^amus, et oculis propriis ilium vidimus ; Extrac-
tionis tamen ipsius notitiam nos habuimus quacumque
scientiarum vel arte : ideoque sentiebamus nos adhuc
aliqua rusticitate excsecatos, quia nuilo modo eam
446 Hermetic Practice.
comprehendere valuimus, donee alius Spiritus prophe-
iioe, spiralis a Patre Luminum deseendit, tanquam
suos nuUatenus deserens, aut a se postulantibus defi-
ciens, Qui in somniis tantam elaritatem mentis nos-
tr?e oculis infulsit ut Illam intus et extra, remotaomni
figura, gratis revelare dignatus est insatiabili bonitate
nos reficiendo demonstrans, ut ad earn implendam dis-
poneremus corpus ad unam naturalem decoctionem
secretam, qua penitus ordine retrogrado cum pungenti /
lancea totaejus natura in meram nigredinam visibiliter /^
dissolveretur.^
In the first act of the physico-chemical works, ex-
plains Kuhnrath, by diverse instruments and labours
and the various artifice of the Hands and of Fire,
from Adrop, (which in its proper tongue is called Sa-
turn, /". e. the Lead of the Wise,) our heart of Saturn,
the bonds of coagulation being dexterously relaxed,
the Green Duenech and the Vitriol of Venus, which
are the true matters of the Blessed Stone will appear.
The Green Lion, lurking and concealed, is drawn forth
from the Cavern of his Saturnine Hill by attractions
and allurements suitable to his nature. All the blood
copiously flowing from his wounds, by the acute lance
transfixed, is diligently collected iiie and ////"; the mud
earth, wet, humid, stagnant, impure, partaking of
Adam, the First Matter of the creation of the Greater
World of our very selves and of our potentStone,is made
manifest — the Wine which the Wise have called the
Blood of the Earth, which likewise is the Red of
Lully, so named on account of its tincture which is the
colour of its virtue, thick, dense, and black, blacker
than black, will then be at Hand ; the bond by which
the soul is tied to the body and united together with
it into one substance is relaxed and dissolved. The
Spirit and the Soul by degrees depart from the body
and are separated step by step ; whilst this takes place
the fixed is made volatile, and the impure body (of the
Spirit) from day to day is consumed, is destroyed,
^ See the passage quoted in Vaughan's Preface to the Fame
and Confession of tlie K. C.
The Gross Work. 447
dies, blackens, and goes to Ashes. These Ashes,
my Son, deem not of little worth ; they are the diadem
of thy body ; in them lies our pigmy, conquering and
subduing giants. In the Second Operation, which takes
place in one circular crystalline vessel justly proportion-
ed to the quality of its contents, also in one theoso-
phic cabalistically sealed furnace of Athanor, and by
one fire, the body, spirit, and soul, externally washed
and cleansed and purged with the most accurate dili-
gence and Herculean labours, and again compounded,
commingle, rot of themselves and without manual co-
operation, by the sole labours of nature, are dissolved,
conjoined, and reunited ; and thus the fixed becomes
volatile wholly ; these three principles also are of
themselves coagulated, diversifiedly coloured, calcined,
and fixed ; and hence the World arises renovated and
new.^
Here then lies the Gordian Knot of the Hermetic
Mystery — and who is he that is able to untie it, en-
quires the philosopher? — Qui scit Salem et ejus solu-
tionem, scit secretum occultum antiquorum philoso-
phorum. — He w^ho knows the Salt and its solution,
knows the secret of the Ancient Sages. And if it be
again asked who '? We have already named him, and
openly; but this Light shining everywhere in Dark-
ness, how hardly should it be comprehensible without
Itself?
Janua clausa est, vah quae lamentabilis hsec vox ;
Orcina sed frustra pulsabitis ostia pugnis >
Vestrse namque Manus uequeunt difiirigere ferrum.
What then ought we to be doing, since hands and in-
tellect are here alike incapable, and the truth of this dis-
covery was never yet put to paper, and for this suffi-
cient reason, that it is proper alone, as LuUy says, to
God to reveal it; since it is His alone prerogative, and
no mortal can communicate it to another unless the
Divine Will be with him. — Not every messenger, says
^ Kwiinratli, x\mpliitlieat. Sap. Isag. in fig. c.
KUI
448 Hermetic Practice.
Van Helmont, approaeheth to the mine of Stones ;
but he alone, who, being loosed ft-om his bonds, has
known the wars, being fitted for his journey, a friend
to the places and who has virtue. They err, there-
fore, who ascribe this single combat only to Corro-
sives ; to wit, they too much trusting to Second quali-
ties, as being ill secure, do sleep thereupon, and
through a neglecting of specifical qualities, also ap-
propriated ones, (which are only extended on their
proper object,) being slighted, they have gone into Ob-
scurity. For the Ostrich does not digest iron or little
birds flints, through an emulous quality of corrosion ;
but there is a virtue of loosing the bars and bolts of
Tartar. It is convenient to meditate about this virtue,
continues the physician, and of what I have spoken ;
blessed be that God of Wonders, who hath sometimes
converted the Water into Rocks, and at other times the
Rocks into pools of Water. ^ Who then shall ascend
into the Mountain of the Lord, or who shall stand in
His Holy Place? He that hath clean hands and a
pure heart, who hath not given up his soul unto vanity
nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive the blessing
from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his
salvation.
We do not quote casually, or because the Scriptural
phrase is popular ; but because it is apt, as seen and
proved on the Divine Ground ; where man indeed may
experiment, plough, plant, and irrigate, but cannot of
himself (or in alliance, unless he dare a deadly sin,)
compel the Divine Blessing without its free accord. —
Wisdom was with thee, says the PTermctic Master ; it
was not gotten by thy care, nor, if it be freed from
redness, by thy study. '^ So neither, it is written, is he
that planteth anything, neither he that watereth, but
God, that giveth the increase.^ He therefore must be
propitiated, not by prayer and supplication alone, but
^ Oreatrike, cap. vi. p. 710.
^ Tract. Aur. cap. iv.
^ 1 Corinth, cap. iii. v. 7.
The Gross Work. 449
by faithful and charitable works preparing the way be-
fore Him ; nor would it be thought astonishing, per-
haps, if Antimony should cause a sudden transpiration,
or that an Iron Key should help to unlock a treasury
of fine Gold. Desire leads into its object by faith im-
mediately ; but mediately, by just works, that hope is
engendered which, kindling into faith, by ecstacy, pene-
trates to its First Source. — Our Antimony, says Basil
Valentine, which is fixed, searcheth out fixed diseases
and eradicates them ; which purgers, not fixed, cannot
do ; but they do only carry away some spoil from dis-
eases ; or they may be compared to water which, driven
by force through a street, penetrates not the earth
itself Fixed remedies purge not by the inferior parts,
because that is not the true way of expelling fixed
venoms ; and that way they would not touch the Ker-
nel, as it may be called, or centre of the disease ; but
by expelling sweat, and otherwise, they strike at the
very inmost root of the disease, not contented with a
certain superficial expulsion of filths. Therefore we
admonish all and every one, that all venomous impu-
rity is totally to be taken away from Antimom/, before
it can either be called a medicine truly or adminis-
tered with safety — in other words, that all arrogant
self-will, sensuality, folly, avarice, and variability of
purpose, all but the one voluntary faith to rectify and
perfect, be removed from the mind of him who is to
enter into the radical dissolution of Life. For the
weapons of this warfare are not carnal, as the Apostle
teaches, but mighty through God to the pulling down
of strong holds ; casting down imaginations, and every
high thing that exalteth itself against the Knowledge
of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to
the obedience of Christ.^ And for this cause, con-
tinues the Monk, the good must be separated from
the evil, the fixed from the unfixed, the medicine
from the venom, with accurate diligence, if we hope
by the use of Antimony to obtain true honour and
' 2 Corinthians, x. 4, 5.
G G
450 Hermetic Practice.
true utility ; but Fire only can effect that, and Vulcan
is the sole and only master of all these. Whatsoever
the Vulcan in the Greater Orb leaves crude and per-
fects not, that in the Lesser World must be amended
by a certain other Vulcan, ripening the immature, and
cocting the crude by heat, and separating the pure
from the impure. That this is possible, no man will
doubt ; for daily experience teaches the same, and it is
very apparent in the corporeal aspect of colours which
proceed from the Fire. For by Separation and Fire,
•which perfects its fixation, venomosity is taken away,
and a change is made of the evil into good ; therefore
Fire is the Separation of Venom from the Medicine,
and of good and evil ; which however is a thing that
none of the physicians either dares or can truly and
fundamentally own or demonstrate, unless he who
hath firmly contracted friendship with Vulcan, and in-
stituted the Fiery bath of Love.^
There is one operation of heat, says Vaughan,
whose method is vital and far more mysterious than
all other, and there be but few of that Spirit that can
comprehend it : But because I will not leave thee
without some satisfaction, I advise thee to take the
Monn of the Firmament, which is a middle Nature,
and place her so that every part of her may be in two
elements at one and the same time ; these elements
also must equally attend her body ; not one further off,
nor one nearer than the other. In the regulation of
these there is a twofold geometry to be observed, na-
tural and artificial. Flammel also, speaking of the
Solar and Lnnar Mercury, and the plantation of the
one in the other, gives this instruction. Take them,
he says, and cherish them over a fire in thy Alembic ;
but it must not be a fire of coals, nor of any wood,
but a bright shining fire like the Sun itself, whose heat
must neither be excessive, but always of one and the
same degree.'- Our operation, concludes Morien, is
^ Triump. Chor. of Antim. Kirchringius, Eiig. ed p. 58.
' Ccelum Terrse, p. 11.8 ; Flaminelli 8u)ntniila.
The Gross Work. 451
nothing else but extracting water from the earth and re-
turning it again, so long and so often until the earth is
completely putrefied ; for by elevation of the mois-
ture the body is heated and dried, and by returning it
again it is cooled and moistened ; by the continuation
of which successive operations it is brought to corrupt
and to lose its Form, and for a season to remain
dead.^ This then is the true intention and manner
of working to supply the right conditions for attract-
ing the Divine Seed, by action and re-action raising
successively actives by passives, and, vice versa, pas-
sives by actives, until the spiritual ability is complete.
For wliat one doth concoct t'otber -will drive away ;
But if thou canst each work perform apart,
And knowest them afterwards to reconcile,
Then thou art master of a princely Art.
The very success will thy hopes beguile ;
Thou hast all Nature's works ranked on a file,
And all her treasures at command dost keep ;
On thee the Fates will ne^er dare but smile.
No Mystery is now for thee too deep :
Th' art Nature's darling whether dost wake or sleep.
Pardon my plainness, of the Art, thou knowest
It was the fruit of my untame desire
To profit many ; and, without a boast,
No man above my candor shall aspire.
My zeal was kindled by Minerva's Fire.^
But for an explanation of the whole difficulty, adds
the same author, in his Ojjeii Entrance, attend to these
instructions — Take four parts of our Fiery Dragon,
wdiich bears in his belly the Magic Steel, and conjoin
to nine parts of our Loadstone, that by a violent con-
cussion they may be reduced into a mineral w^ater; re-
ject the superfluous scum which sw^ims upon it ; leave
the Shell and take the Kernel ; and purge thrice with
Salt and with Fire : which will be easy to do, if Sa-
turn have chanced to regard his beauty in the glass of
Mars. — Hence comes the Chamelion which is our
Chaos, in which all the Arcana are contained ; not in
act as yet, but in virtue.^ — Non igitur externus solis
/ 1 De Trans. Metal.
/ aW 2 Eii-en^us, Hipley Revived, verses in fine.
3 Introitus Aportus, cap. vii.
G G 2
4.')2 Hermetic Practice.
coelestis calor est qui profuiidum terroe calefacit sed
potius solis terresti'is iiniatus calor ; duplex enim est
calor, unus reverberationis qui externus est, alter influx-
ionis et penetratioiiis, qui internus est, de quo jam lo-
quor, cujus natura est vivificare augmentare conservare
per sustentaculum radicalis humoris in hoc igne con-
tenti.^ , . is . .
Which \ulcanic action, to destroy life andAmaintain
it, Democritus before all, and as it were pyrographically,
poui'trays, as — Drawing the fixed Brass out bodily, in-
structs this Abderite, thou shalt compose a certain ob-
long tongue, and placing it again upon the coals, stir
Vulcan into it ; now irradiating with the Fossil Salt,
now with the incessant Attic Ochre, adorning now the
shoulder and the breast of Paphia till she shall appear
more manifestly beautiful, and, throwing the glau(j^s lOi
veil aside, shall appear entirely Golden. Perchance '
it was when Paris gazed on such a Venus, he did pre-
fer her both to Juno and Minerva.^
This evidence may suffice for the present occasion,
which is to promote inquiry rather than pursue it.
For when the inquirer has learned how he ought to
begin, having increased also his natural store ol' incli-
nation and faith by practice in equal companionship
and reciprocal benefaction, he will not despair; and
even though the riddle should appear ever so intricate
at first, it will solve itself at every stage, opening into
new prospects within the veil of life. Labour to know
causes, advises the philosopher ; he that seeks ra-
tiovally finds the true end, not otherwise ; for such a
conduct conciliates Minerva, and at her behest Jove
prospers the undertaking. Everything depends upon
the Motive, which is the true spiritual ferment ; and
according to the virtue of the fermenting principle is
the result obtained.
Sic fiiiis ab origine pendet.
The end depends from the beginning ; and as the
^ Nuvsement, Sal Lumeu, the Latiu of Conibachius.
'^ In Flammelli Summula, Quae ex Democrito coUeguutur.
The Gross Work. 453
vine draws its sap from the foeculent impure earth,
and yields a fluid fruit, wiiich by the fermentive art
is turned into wine, spiritualised, and advanced into
a more permanent form of being; so, in the Herme-
tic art, the philosophic matter, drawn in part from the
heterogeneous air and defiled breath of vitality, is puri-
fied by successive interchanging of ferments, fretted,
dissolved, and rectified into a consummate and immortal
Form of Light. But Nature halts many times before
this final rest, at each stage offering the fruits of her
conceptive imagination to allure ; if the artist be am-
bitious, however, and a true philosopher, he will ac-
cept of none of these, but will proceed, sacrificing
all the intermediate benefits, again and again tortur-
ing her, and, with relentless hands, slaying the first-
born offspring until the Divine Perfection is attained.
— For other foundation can no man lay, as says the
Apostle, than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
Now if any man build upon this foundation gold,
silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble ; every
man's work shall be made manifest : for the Day shall
declare it, because it shall be revealed by Fire ; and the
Fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.
If any man's work abide which he hath built therc-
upou, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work
shall be burned, he shall suffer loss : but he himself
shall be saved ; yet so as by Fire. Know ye not that
ye are the Temple of God, and that the Spirit of God
dwelleth in you ? If any man defile the Tem])le of
God, him shall God destroy ; for the Temple of God
is holy, which Temple ye are.^
It is vain to look in expectation, or believe ourselves
in the hereditary possession, of a treasure, without so
much as opening or suspecting even the casket in
which it is shut up. The common elements of Nature
obscure their Divine Original, and Chemistry and all
our experimental physics drive it forcibly without
the means of Identification. Yet as the experienced
' 1 Corinthians, iii. 11 — 17.
454 Hermetic Practice.
Chemist knows how, by a skilful application of his art,
to analyse the common elements, and distil them to
a high virtue and strength of refinement, so the Alche-
mists long since have taught by a more subtle aj)-
paratus and artifice, and tests more cogent than all,
to rectify the Universal Element, and compress its in-
visible vapour into a tangible Form. By applying the
proper voluntary corrosive they teach to obliterate its de-
filements ; by gentleness to mollify its Durity ; by bene-
ficence to sweeten its acerbity ; by justice to moderate
its intensity, and to irradiate it with hope, truth, beauty,
and universal intellection ; supplanting the sensual do-
minion, and rectifying, until finally, by an actual sub-
version of the selfhood, they made their Sublimate
sublime.
Thus he who, like Qidipus, is able to solve the
Enigma of the Sphinx ; in other words, to penetrate
rationally the darkened essence of his natural under-
standing, will, by conversion illuminating its obscurity,
cause it to become lucid throughout, and to be no
longer what it was before. — For Mind is the Key of
this Hermetic Enigma, and no sooner does it attain
to Self Knowledge, by proper inquiry within, than the
Efficient proceeds outwards to image its motive in
operation, so that)^which before lay in speculation only
is carried out in Life. But it is not until the right
Motive is discovered, and until the mundification of the
/ Spirit is completed in both kinds, and all things are
0^1 reduced to a crystalline diaphaneity, that the Philoso-
' ' phic Work has been said truly to begin. For, as was
before observed, if any permanent confection is made
or suffered to take place before-hand, the immature
offspring does not abide.
He that would seek Tincture niost specious
Must needly avoid all things Avild and vicious.
The philosopher's worke doe not begin
Till all things be pure without and within.*
* XovtoiTs Ordinal. t"i[). iv.
455
CHAPTER II.
Of the Philosophic or Subtle Work.
Omnia in omnibus primum, omni Tertio tradid.it (ex omni pri-
mo secundo) omnia in omnibus primum secundum, ut inde omnia
in omnibus, et omnia, catholice, aguosceret, cognosceret ac pos-
sideret. — Enigma Kuhnrath, Amph. Sap.
AS there are three reigns or grand distinctive dis-
tributions of the kingdoms of Nature, so we are
informed that in the Philosophic Work, preceding her,
there is a threefold order of legitimate operation and
a relation of Causal sequences^ which merits especial
note. For these three operations, which are in fact
so many degrees through which the Spirit passes from
conception to manifestation, are perplexed by the
Adepts in their records, and reserved strictly under
the Master Key of their Dilemma, in order that the
mysteries of this most venerable science might not
be discovered to the profane. And shall we, who
have hitherto presumed so far on their indifference as
to break the preliminary signets and unloose so many
covertures of occult learning, more audacious still,
approach those final cerements unannealed, and with
a full discovering hand expose before all indiscrimi-
nately the Art of simple Nature, which the ancients
kept so holily, and which the Wisest in modern times
have deemed it unprofitable to reveal? The unwor-
thy alone would have it so ; the intelligent lovers of
truth would bewail nothing more than a desecration
of it in incapable hands ; nor will they be offended or
grudge the additional pains which a conscientious
reserve may occasion them to discover, by a theoretic
conduct, the ultimate Art of Life.
The tradition of the Preliminary Practice, as it has
been delivered by each one following his own guide
independently, may be regarded as it were a track in
456 Hermetic Practice.
the sands easily changeable, and where we ought to
conduct ourselves rather by the polar star-light than
by any footsteps which are seen implanted there. Be-
sides the confusion of the tracks which the many
wayfarers have left is so great, and one finds so many
different paths and wilful deviations, that it is almost
impossible not to be led astray from the right road,
which the Star alone points out for all and each one
by his proper sight beholding it. The wilful con-
fusion of the Hermetic doctrine has doubtless checked
many aspii'ants ; some in the beginning, others in the
middle of their philosophic career, have been disap-
pointed ; many even with a perfect knowledge of the
preliminary work, and having the true Matter in Hand
also and means of purification, are said to have fal-
tered in defect of the ultimate theory whereon to pro-
ceed ; some, even when they understood this, having
already approached through much labour and contem-
plation towards the end of their journey, having the
Final Purpose also in Mind, hav^e been entangled by
the snares and pitfalls which their predecessors had
dug in the midway between them and the fulfilment
of their destined course. I vow sincerely to you,
says Eudoxus, in that introduction of his to the Six
Keys, that the practice of our Art is the most difficult
thing in the world, not in regard to its operations, but
in respect of the difficulties which are in it, to learn it
distinctly from the books of the philosophers. For
if, on the one side, it is called with reason a recreation
and play of children ; on the other, it requires in those
who search for the Irut/i a profound knowledge of
the princi})les and of the operations of Nature in the
Three Kinds : Thus Norton says —
GTreate neede hatli he to be a clerke
That would discerne tliis Subtill "Werke :
He must kuow hys first filosophie,
If he trust to come by Alkiiiiie.
It is a great point to find out the True Matter and
proper Subject of this work ; even for this we must
The Subtle Work. 457
pierce through a thousand obscure veils wherewith it
has been overspread : we must distinguish it by its
proper idea and name, among a miUion of pseudo-
nymes and abstruse appellations, whereby the Adepts
have chosen to express it : we must learn to under-
stand the properties of it, in order to judge of the pos-
sibility of the miracles alleged ; and before we can
imagine into the abstruse Original of Nature, we must
reflect profoundly and patiently, in order to discrimi-
nate the secret Fire of the Wise, which is the only
agent granted by Art to purify and dispose Nature to
a sacrifice of her last life. This, we must know, and
the Divine Law that succeeds to animate her by a re-
volutionary course. We must learn further how to
convert and congeal the new-born Quintessence or
mercurial water into an incombustible fixed unguent,
and, by the entire revolution of its body, to awaken
the occult Light to Life.
And to effect this, moreover, adds our author of The
Triumph, you must make the conversion of the Ele-
ments, the separation and the reunion of the Three
Principles ; you must learn how to make thereof a
white Mercury and a citrine Mercury, and you must
fix this IMercury and nourish it with its own blood, to
the end that it may be converted into the fixed Sul-
phur, which is the Stone of Philosophers.
These are the fixed principles of the Hermetic Art,
in which there is no variableness but in their disco-
very, which, having already discussed, we proceed to
redeem our promise of a more subtle application to
practice ; and this, without incurring too great a re-
sponsibility on ourselves, may we trust be intelligibly
conceived from such succeeding evidence as it is expe-
dient only to afford.
We read, in the Egyptian Fable of Isis and Osiris,
that they were sister and brother, and being conjoined
in marriage likewise, that their kingdom was cruelly
divulsed and usurped by their brother Typhon, who
in a malignant and envious spirit killed Osiris, cut his
3
458 Hermetic Practice.
body into pieces and scattered his members to the
fom* winds. Isis however, recollecting these, preserved
them in a chest which floated on the Nilotic waters in
safety until the period arrived for a restitution ; when
the king was thenceforth resuscitated, and came forth
invulnerable fi-om his ashes, and far more powerful
than he was before, to the enjoyment of his dominions
and rightful throne.
Now in this fable, already explained in part, Plu-
tarch, with the Adepts also being witnesses, is pro-
foundly couched not only the principiating action of
Intellect but the methodical art of the same subtle An-
tecedent to bring itself, by begetting a supernatural
offspring, into natural effect.
And since it is requisite, according to the ancient
Metaphysics, to consider the doctrine of Causes from
its Principle, and causes are said to subsist in a four-
fold respect, one of which they assert to be essence, asd
iit^ the subsisting as a certain particular thing and
cause and principle, form the First Why ; but the
second cause is matter and that which subsists as a
subject; A Third is, that whence the beginning of mo-
tion is derived ; and The Fourth is a cause opposite to
this, viz., that for the sake of which the inquiry sub-
sists, and the Good which is the end of generation.^
Hence, referring this Peripatetic scheme of investi-
gation to the art of Wisdom for realisation, we may
conceive the whole intellectual relationship ; and how
the speculative Motive of the First Cause is finally
produced in reversionary order from the Third, in
whom it becomes efficient, by the Second into the
Fourth ; as it were a triplicate f eing of Thought, Will,
and Understanding, which, resting in the sole vision of
its only begotten perfection, desires not to surpass
itself; but, perceiving itself indeed to be the Final Object
of its own First Cause, is good, according to the words
of the Stagyrite, and the end of spiritual generation.
These, then, are the universal principles which it has
^ See Aristotle's Metaphysics, book i.
The Subtle Work. 459
sometimes been deemed expedient in practice to re-
present, and tliese are their several relations:
Primus dicatur in quo sensus domiiiatur.
Sensibus aequato gaudet Natura Secundo.
Tertius excedit, cujus tolerantia Isedit.
Destructor sensus nescit procedere Quarto.
And, as respects the operation of these, viz. of the
natural, unnatural, and the supernatural Fires, they
should be quickly lighted, says the Adept, ^ lest one
should put out the other, or this should stifle that :
over all which the Fourth, partaking of the aerial fiery
element, supervenes for the accomphsliment of the
work. And, as respects the Vessels, the First indeed
may be considered to be opaque, the Second less so,
and the Tliird still less so. This last containing truly
Him who is to be born ;^as the embryo in the mother
is protected with a triple covering and sustained within
until mature, even so is the metaphysical offspring
said to be involved : which, by the birth of Horus in
the Egyptian Fable, is accurately represented, when,
Typhon being vanquished, the lawful empire is re-
sumed.— Triuna universalis essentia, quae Jehovah ap-
pellatur et ex Uno, divina essentia, dein ex Duobus, Deo
et homine, ex Tribus, personis videlicet, ex Quatuor,
utpote tribus personis et una Divina Essentia, quem-
admodum etiam ex Quinque tribus personis, et duabus
Essentiis nimirum, divinis et simul humanus est.'^
Hence the Divine Monarchy consists, and is esta-
bhshed ; the primary principles whereof, as here an-
nounced, are in their representation famihar ; but of
the form of the Fourth in that burning Fiery Furnace,
we may conceive only from what is written. — Behold
I will send you FAijah, the prophet, before the coming
of the Great and terrible Day of the Lord, and he
shall turn the hearts of the Fatliers unto the Children,
and the hearts of the Children to their Fathers, lest I
come and strike the earth with a curse. ^ But, say the
1 Maieri Synibola Aureae Mensae, p. 256.
'^ Aquarium Sapientum in Mus. Herm. p. 112.
2 Malaclii, iv. 5, 6.
Cbr<^
460 Hermetic Practice.
Adepts, Naliiscstjcnn Elias Artista ^ Elias, the artist,
is bom already ; and this is he that was appointed a
forerunner, baptizing with the water unto repentance,
who has foreshown all things in his apparition to the
wise, whose birth is miraculous in the hypostatic
transfiguration, and prior to the Divine Light,
AVlioin to seeke it availeth right nought,
Til] the white medicine be fully wrought.
Alsoe both medicins in their beginninge
Have one manner of vessel and workinge,
As well for the AVhite as also for the Eed,
Till all quick things be made dead ;
When vessels and forme of operation
Shall chaitnye in matter, figure, and graduation.
But my herte quaketh, my hand is tremblinge,
When I write of this most selcouth thinge.
Hermes brought forth a true sentence and blounte,
AVheu he said, Ignis et Azoth tihi sujfficiunt?
It will be unnecessary now to remind the attentive
reader of w^hat has been before explained. Nature,
indeed, provides us with the foundations of Wisdom,
and materials wherewith to construct her immortal
/ Edifice of Light ; but it is the work only of a Master
lCA^^ Mason, of Grand Architects, as the I/odgc. has it, to
erect structures in the air. The task is too onerous
for inferior craftsmen.^ It is the part of Mind alone
to represent herself in this w^ay by her own reflective
energy, to embody the ethereal Image, and chisel it out
in Light. — O blessed watery Form ! that dissolvest the
Elements ! Now it behoves us with this watery soul
to possess ourselves of a sulphurous Form, and to
minele the same with our Acetum. For when bv the
power of the Water the composition is dissolved, it is
the Key of the Restoration. And wdicn thou shalt
pour forth thy Fire upon the Foliated Sulphur, con-
tinues the Master, the boundary of hearts {i. e. the
Final Cause) does enter in above it, and is w^ashed
in the same, and the mortal matter thereof is ex-
tracted. Then i,s he transformed in his tincture. Our
1 Introit. Apertus. cap xiii.
^ Norton's Ordinal, cap. v.
" .tjgii L'aililo I- JMivnual of Froo Maauuiv, jiaii iii. p. 17.
The Subtle Work. 461
Son the King takes his tincture from the fire and
death even, and darkness and the waters flee away.
The Dragon shuns the sunbeams which dart through
the crevices, our dead Son Uves. The King comes forth
from the Fire, and rejoices with his spouse, and the
occult treasury is laid open. The Son, already vivified,
is become a warrior in the Fire, of tincture superexcel-
lent. For this Son is the treasury, bearing even (in
his hand) the Philosophic Matter.^ — Now then bring
ye gifts of salutation to the Rain ; that, not being
withh olden, it may descend upon you ; and to the dew,
if it has received from you gold and silver. Open
your eyes, and lift up your horns, ye that are ca-
pable to comprehend the Elect One; before whose
feet all his antecedents fall away, and are consumed.
Those mountains which thou hast seen, the mountain
of copper, the mountain of silver, the mountain of
gold, the mountain of fluid metal, and the mountain
of lead, all these in the presence of the Elect One
shall be like a honeycomb before the Fire ; and like
water descending from above upon the mountains, and
shall become debilitated before his feet. All these
things shall be rejected when the Elect One shall
appear in the presence of the Lord of Spirits.'^ —Behold,
I will send my Alessenger, and he shall prepare the
way before me : and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall sud-
denly come to his Temple, even the messenger of the
covenant, whom ye delight in : behold he shall come,
saith the Lord of Hosts. But who shall abide the day
of his coming? And who shall stand when he ap-
peareth ? For he is like a Rejiner's Fire, and X\\ie ful-
lers' soap : and he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of
silver : and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge
them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the
Lord an offering in righteousness.^
This was He whom the Patriarchs and Hebrew
prophets looked for, and the Ethnic philosophers, in
1 Tractatus Aureus, cap. ii.
2 Book of Enoch, xcix.
3 Malachi, iii. 1, 2, 3, 4.
462 Hermetic Practice.
anticipation, adored ; who in the sacred humanity
of Jesus Christ was at last made manifest ; whom the
Apostles and early Christian Fathers, Saints, and Mar-
tyrs testify of, and wdth understanding worshipped ;
even — That which was from the Beginning, which they
had heard, and seen with their eyes, w^hich they had
looked upon, and their hands had handled, of the
Word of Life ; for the Life w as made manifest, and
they had seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto
us that Eternal Life, which was with the Father, and
was manifested unto them.^ And noiv also the axe is
laid unto the root of the trees : therefore every tree
which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn dowm, and
cast into the fire. I indeed baptize you with Water
unto repentance : but He that cometh after me is
mightier than I, whose shoes 1 am not worthy to bear:
He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and wdth
Fire : Whose fan is in his Hand, and he will throughly
purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner ;
but the chaff he will burn up with unquenchable fire.'^
O mysteries truly sacred! exclaims the Bishop of
Alexandria in holy transport, O pure Light; at the
Light of torches, the veil that covers God and Heaven
falls off. I am holy now that I am initiated. It
is the Lord himself ivho is the Hicrophdnta. He sets
his seal upon the Adept, whom he illumi//ates with his
beams: and whom, as a recompense for faith, he will
recommend to the eternal love of the Father. These
are the orgies of my mysteries, come ye and be re-
ceived.-^
Thus the Mysteries of Antiquity changed their
form only to appear more resplendent when Chris-
>-^, tianity came to be the prevailing religion ; when bap-
^\<^ tismal regeneration was an effectual rite, and the
S't'^ Eucharist a true isitratiefl ; when Faith, by humilia-
^ tion under the exemplar} cross of Christ, brought Him
1 Pirst Epist. Gen. St. John, i. St. Panl to the Hebrews, i.
2 St. Matthew, iii. 10, &c.
•■' Clemens Alexandrinns. See De Septchene.s, l^olig. of the
Greeks, chap. ii.
The Subtle Work. 463
forth anew in each regenerate hfe, identically perfect
in all things, immortal, and transcending every pre-
cedent revelation of the Light; as St. Paul, in his
Epistle to the Hebrews, also bears witness : — God,
who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in
times past unto the Fathers by the prophets, hath in
these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he
hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he
made the Worlds ; who being the brightness of his
glory and the express image of his person, and up-
holding all things by the Word of his power, when he
had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right
hand of the Majesty on High.^
Meditate, therefore, says the Theosophist, and study
theosophically to reduce the Ternary by the Quater-
nary, through the rejection of the Binary, to the sim-
plicity of the Monad ; that thy body, soul, and spirit
be gathered to rest in the name of Jesus. ^ — Learn to
unite the Principles of our Chaos to a new Life, and
they will be regenerated by Water and the Spirit.
These two are in a 1 things, and each has in himself,
as Trismegistus says, the seed of his own regeneration.^
Proceed then patiently but not manuaUii. The work
is performed by an invisible Artist ; for there is a se-
cret incubation of the Spirit of God upon Nature ; you
must only see that the outward heat fails not, but
with the subject itself you have no more to do than
the mother with the child that is in her womb. The
two former principles perform all. The Spirit makes
use of the water to purge and wash his body, and he
will bring it at last to a celestial immortal constitu-
tion. Does any one think this impossible ? further in-
quires the Adept. — Remember, that in the incarnation
of Jesus Christ, the Quaternarius, or four elements, as
some call them, were united to their eternal Unity and
Ternarius. Three and Four make seven. This Sep-
St. Paul to the Hebrews, i. 1, &c.
j^tknratli Amp. Sap. Etern. in medio.
2 See the Divine Pfemander, Sermon on tlie Mount of Regene-
ration.
-~0My
464 Hermetic Practice
tenary is the true Sabaoth, the rest of God, into which
the creature shall enter. This is the best and plainest
manuduction that I can give you : in a word, Salvation
is nothing else but a Transmutation^ — of the compo-
nent principles of hfe in the circulation. And this is
the true metempsychosis which has been the source
of many errors in the common acceptancy ; but
which, in the Ancient Schools of Divinity, signified nei-
ther more nor less than a transmigrating of the human
Identity out of this animal terrene existence through
the ethereal elements of its original formation. W^^^l/i^^
elements are the universal fundamentals of nature ;
but in the Human Form alone are found to attain to
that supremacy of Reason wdiich re-enters to its First
Cause ; when, by a Triplicate growth of Light in the
Understanding, becoming consciously allied, It ema-
nates a Fourth Form, truthful, godlike, being the
express image of its motive magically portrayed.
I. In the beginning was the Word,
II. And the "Word was with God,
III. And the Word was- God.
All things were made by Him, and without Him
was not any thing made that was made. In Him was
Life, and the life was the Light of Men. And the
Light shineth in Darkness ; and the Darkness compre-
hendeth it not.
IV. There was a man sent from God whose name was John.
The same came for a Wit/iess, to bear w itness of the
Light, that all men through him might htlieve. He
was not that Light, but w^as sent to bear Witness of
that Light. That was the true Light, which lighteth
every man that cometh into the world ;'^ — which in the
Saviour was perfected ; one ray of which, intrinsically
permeating, is able to cleanse this leprous life of ours,
^ Lumeu de Lumiue, p. 92.
^ tSt. John's Gospel, i.
The Subtle Work. 465
and convert it to the virtue and perfect potency of its
Whole.
And whosoever in any other Light or Form of Light
should look for the First Cause, or for any other Final
Cause in this, except the First, would seek contrary to
reason, against the divine ordinance, and against him-
self; for nothing else is worth seeking, or can terminate
in good, but will be the fruit of the Fall only, which
Adam took upon himself; the mortal consequences of
which are hourly expiated by our race, and which no
one, unless he were insane, haply would labour to in-
crease. The rule of Wisdom, in the verification of her
Light, is absolute, and though intermediates apply
themselves naturally for the generation, they are re-
jected in the accomplishment ; as it is explained — Non
fit ad monadis simplicitatem reductio, nisi rejiciatur
binarius, non enim ^um Jehovah unio nisi prius a
teipso devitatio et tui abnegatio. — For as the absolute
Identification in theory is not conceived but by self ab-
lation and avoidance, so, practically, neither is Nature
reduced to the Monadic simplicity of her Element but
by rejection of her Binary conception. For if in the
Duad the divine Idea were suffered immediately to
bring forth, an imperfect offspring would result, and
discordant by predominance of either generating ex-
treme, as in this life is manifest ; but by carrying the
circulation upward through a Third principle for repro-
bation, it. is rectified, overcome in its proper voU-
tion, and dying, (if the divine rule be thenceforth fol-
lowed,) is raised again by reversion, and through a
diligent analysis passing, as it were, from heaven to
earth and from earth to heaven, it receives the
strength of superiors and of inferiors, to make mani-
fest the Flower of Intellect retrospectively to its Ar-
chetypal Source, according to the Hermetic Riddle :
Omnia in omnibus peimum, omni Teetio teadidit, ex omni
peimo secundo, omnia in omnibus primum secundum, ut inde
omnia in omnibus, et omnia catholice a&nosceket, cognos-
oeeet ac possideeet.
H H
466 Hermetic Practice.
The First all things in all gave the First Second all
THINGS IN ALL, FROM THE ALL IN THE FlEST SeCOND TO THE
Third all ; that he might discover, know, and possess all
THINGS universally.
And this, it would seem, is the CathoHc Art of
Reason investigating her First Source, which the Chal-
daic oracle no less orderly pursues.
Where the Paternal Mouad is ?
The Monad is enlarged which generates Two,
For the Duad sits beside him and glitters with intellectual sections,
And to govern all things and to order everything not ordered.
For in the whole world shineth the Triad over which the Monad
rules.
This order is the beginning of aU sections :
For the mind of the Father said that all things be cut into Three
— "Wliose will assented ; and then all things were divided.
And there appeared in it (the Triad) A^irtue, Wisdom, and multi-
scient Verity :
This way floweth the Form of the Triad, being pre-existent, not
the Fii'st (Essence) but where they are measured.
For thou must conceive that all things serve these three Principles.
Their First Course is sacred, but in the middle another, and the
third Aerial wliich cherisheth the Earth in Fire ;
And Fountain of all Fountains,
The Matrix containing all tilings, thence abundantly springs forth
The generation of multi-various matter ;
Whence is extracted a Prester the Flower of glowing Fire,
Flashing into the cavities of the world, for all things from thence
begin to extend downwards their admirable beams ^
Such is the recreant progress of mind, ascending
and descending throughout life, for the investigation
of its manifold resources and powers ; where there is
an exact machinery to be observed, a method which,
though simple, is difficult for common sense to con-
ceive aright — a mainspring exquisitely tempered, an
enduring pivot, wheel within wheel revolving vitally.
Mercury, Sulphur, and an immortal Salt. And as
steel draws the loadstone and the loadstone in like
manner turns towards steel, so is it with the sepa-
rated principles of will and understanding in their
' Chaldaie Oracles, i.
The Subtle Work. 467
freed state. It is true, moreover, that our loadstone
contains in its inmost centre an abundance of that
marvellous Salt, which is that menstruum in the
sphere of Saturn mentioned by Eireneus, which can
calcine gold. This centre turns naturally towards
the Pole, where the virtue of the steel is gradually
strengthened. In this Pole is the heart of the Mer-
cury, which is a true Fire, in which its Lord rests ;
and passing through this great sea, guided by the
Light of that Polar star which our magnet exhibits, it
arrives at its original destination. — The Wise will re-
joice, adds the Adept, but fools and the ignorant will
hold it for a small thing, nor yet learn Wisdom,
though they should see the Central Pole extravasated
and bearing the notable Sign of Omnipotence. But
let the Son of Philosophy hearken to the Words of the
Wise, who unanimously declare that their work may
be likened to the creation of the world. — In the Be-
o-iiuwis God made Heaven and Earth. And the Earth
was without Form and void ; and Darkness was upon
the Face of the Deep. And the Spirit of God moved
upon the Face of the Waters. And God said. Let
there be Light: and there was Light. — And these
words may suffice, continues the philosopher ; for the
Heaven and Earth philosophical, even as agent and
patient, must be united upon the throne of friendship
and love, where they will thereafter reign together in
ev^erlasting honour.^
Maria sonat breviter quod talia tonat,
Gummis cum binis fugitivum figit in imis,
Horis in trinis tria vinclat fortia finis.
Maria lux roris ligam ligat in tribus horis,
Filia Plutonis consortia jungit amoris
Gaudet in assata per Tria sociata.^
Thus exalted by a rotary circulation, as it were, from
the lowest to the most perfect form of vitality — from
its beginning in voluntary indigence, through each
succedent sphere of resolute conception, the Spirit
1 See Introitus Apertus, cap. iv. ; Genesis, chap. i.
2 Maria Practica, &c. ; Ars Aurifera, vol. ii. p. 208.
H H 2
468 Hermetic Practice.
goes on to increase and multiply its hidden light out-
wardly, until its substance, being replenished, it is
brought forth to sight. The First has it and refuses
it ; the Second gives it and regards it not ;
And the Fourth, as the Artist, applies it to the work
in furtherance, thus proving himself from first to last
to be essential, and the greatest Handicraft of all ; —
when the Stone, so singularly raised up by the builders
each in turn rejecting it, becomes the Head Stone of
the Corner. — This is the Lord's doing, and it is mar-
vellous in our Eyes.
And as the Stone of the Wise is completed in
three successive circulations, so likewise was the
Temple of mighty Solomon built up by the joint
assistance of Hiram and Queen Sheba, and wonder-
fully adorned with gold, and silver, and constellated
beams ; as in the book of Jezirah we also read — that,
with the Fiery Letters of the Law, He engraved the
empty, and the void, and the obscure mind, and made,
as it were, a heap of grain and a straight statue, and
intersected it with joined beams.' Which brings to
mind those lines in the nineteenth book of the
Odyssey, when Ulysses and Telemachus, removing the
weapons out of the armory, Minerva preceded them,
having a golden Lamp, with which she produced a
very beautiful Light, on perceiving which, Telema-
chus thus immediately addresses his Father : O
Father ! this is certainly a most admirable thing which
presents itself to my eyes. For the walls of the
House, the beautiful spaces between the rafters, the
tir beams, and the columns appear to rise in radiance
as if on fire. Certainly some one of the gods is pre-
sent who inhabit the extended heaven. But the Wise
Ulysses thus answered him : — Be silent, repress your
intellect, and do not speak. For this is the custom of
the gods in Olympus.^ Homer, therefore, in common
with the philosophers of his age, indicates that for the
1 Cap. i.
^ Ody.ssey, book xix.
The Subtle Work. 469
proper reception of divinity, quietude and a cessation
of mental energy are becoming and necessary to the
consummating knowledge of the First Cause. — And
the knowledge of it, says Trismegistus, is a most Di-
vine Silence, and a rest of all the senses ; for neither
can he that understands That understand anything
else, nor he that sees That see anything else, nor in
sum move the body. For, shining steadfastly up and
around the whole mind, it enlighteneth all the soul,
and loosing it from the bodily senses and motions,
it draweth it from the body, and changeth it wholly
into the Essence of God,
We awaken from the intellectual Intuition, says
Schelling, as from a state of death — and we awaken,
by reflection, into that created personality wherein it
is impossible any longer to know Him. — The vision
graven in hallowed memory is all that remains to us ;
for the object of human reason is the limit of its
power, and the pure zero of all relative conception
waits l)efore the throne of God. — But to our work.
The last concord is well known to Clerkes
Between the sphere of Heaven and our Subtil Werkes.
Nothing in erth hath more simplicitie,
Than th' elements of our Stone woll be,
Wherefore thei, being in worke of generation,
Have most obedience to constellation :
Whereof concord most kindly convenient
Is a direct and Fiery ascendant,
Being sign common for this operation,
For the multitude of their iteration :
Fortune your ascendant with his Lord alsoe,
Keeping th' aspect of shrews them fro' ;
And if they must let, or needly infect.
Cause them look with a trine aspect.
For the ivhife Worke make fortunate the Moone,
For the Lord of the Fourth House likemse be it done ;
For that is Thesaurum ahsconditum of old clerkes ;
Soe of the sixth house for servants of the Werkes ;
Save all them well from great impediments,
As it is in picture, or like the same intents.
Unless that your nativity pretend infection,
In contrariety of this Election,
The virtue of the IMover of the orbe is foi'mall,
The virtue of the eight sphere is here instrumental],
With her signs and iigures and parts aspectuall,
470 Hermetic Practice.
The planet's virtue is proper and speciall,
The virtue of the elements is here materiall,
The virtue infused resulteth of them all :
The First is like to a workman's mind,
The Second like to his hand ye shall linde ;
The Third is like a good instrument,
The remnant like a thing wrought to your Intent.
Make all the premises with other well accord,
Then shall your merits make you a greate Lord.
In this wise Elixir, of whom ye make mencion,
Is engendered a thing of Second Intention.^
I could tell thee, says Vaughan, of a first and second
sublimation, of a double nativity, visible and invisible,
without which the Matter is not alterable as to our
final purpose. I could tell thee also of sulphurs sim-
ple and compounded, of three Argent vives and as
many Salts, and all this would be new news (as the
schoolmen phrase it) , even to the best learned in Eng-
land. But I hope not by this discourse to demolish
any man's castles ; for why should they despair when
I contribute to their building?^
Out magistery is Three, Two, and One—
The Animal, Vegetable, and Mineral Stone.
First, I say, in the name of the Holy Trinity,
Look that thou join in one persons Three —
The Fixt, the Variable, and the Fugitive —
Till they together taste death and live.
The first one is the Dragon fell,
That shall the other twaine both slay and quell ;
The Sun and IMoon shall lose their light.
And in mourning sable, they shall seem dight.
Three score days long, or neere thereabouts ;
Then shall Phoebus appear first out.
With strange colours in all the Firmament,
Then our joy is coming and at Hand present.
Then Orient Phoebus in his hemisphere
To us full gloriously shall appear :
Thus he who can work wisely.
Shall attain unto our IMaistery.^
Which magistery is a fiery form of Light inspissate,
' Norton's Ordinal, chap. vi.
^ See Vaughan' s Lumen de Lumine.
3 Theatrum Chemicum Brit. ; Conclusion of Bloomfield's Camp
of Philosophy.
The Subtle Work. 471
made manifest by a triplicate introversion and multi-
plication of the hypostatic unit by the circulatory me-
dium throughout life.
Already see the laurel brauches wave !
Hark ! sounds tumultuous shake the trembling cave.
Far, ye profane, far off w4th beauteous feet,
Bright Phoebus comes and thunders at the gate.
See ! the glad sign the Delian Palm hath given,
Sudden it bends ; and hovering in the heaven.
Soft sings the Swan with melody divine.
BUEST OPE YE BaES ! TE GaTES, TOUE HeADS EXPAND,
He comes ! The Gtod of light, the God's at hai^d.
Begin the song, and tread the sacred ground
In mystic dance symphonious to the sound.
Begin, young men ! Apollo's eyes endure
None but the good, the perfect, and the pure.
Who view the god are great, but abject they
From whom he turns his favouring eyes away.
All-seeing God ! in every place confessed,
"VVe will prepare, behold thee, and be blessed.
He comes, young men ! Nor silent should ye stand,
"With harp or feet, when Phoebus is at hand.^
Fit thy roof to thy God in all thou canst, continues
the philosopher, and in what thou canst not he will help
thee ; thou must prepare thyself till thou art conform-
able to Him whom thou wouldest entertain, and that
in every way of similitude. Thou hast three that are
to receive, and there be three accordingly that give.
And when thou hast set thy house in order, think not
that thy guest will come without invitation.
Perpetual knockings at his doore,
Teares sullying his transparent rooms.
Sighs upon sighs, weep more and more.
He comes.
This is the way that thou must walk, in which, if
thou dost, thou shalt perceive a sudden illumination
— Eritque^tecum Lumin^, Ignis ; cum Tgne Vent(|) ; US
cum Vento, Potestas ; cum Potestate, Scientia ; cum
Scientia, sanae mentis integritas.^ — And then it is re-
* Callimachus' Hymn to Apollo, by Dodd.
2 Anima Magia Abscond, page 47, &c.
L/vc^lJCe^
472 Hermetic Practice.
quisite to believe that we have seen Him, says Ploti-
nus, when the Soul receives a sudden Light. For the
Light is with Power, and is God. — And then it is
proper to think that He is present, when, hke another
Divinity, entering into the house of some one w^ho in-
vokes him, he fills it with splendour. For, unless he
entered, he would not illuminate it, and then the soul
would be without Light, and without the possession
of God.^ But when illuminated, it has That which
it sought for ; and the Thought and understanding
are in the experience One.
Nec Sentire Deum nisi qui pahs ipse Dei est.
That was the sum of the Hermetic Mystery, and the
ultimate object of the Alchemical Art to accomplish ;
and by such a subtle analysis and pure synthesis of
vital agencies and effects, the Word of Life would
seem to have been sought after by our ancestors, and
experimentally found : which their neglected Scrip-
tures everywhere testify of, and the Smaragdine Table
yet lives summarily instructing us to reprove.
True "without eebor, certain and most true ; That which
IS ABOVE is as that WHICH IS BELOW, AND THAT WHICH IS
BELOW IS AS THAT WHICH IS ABOVE, FOR PERFORMING THE
MIRACLES OF THE OnE ThING. AnD AS ALL THINGS WERE
FROM One, by the mediation of One, so all things pro-
ceeded FROM this One Thing by adaptation. The Father
of it is the Sun, the Mother of it is the Moon, the
"Wind carried it in its belly ; the nurse thereof is
THE Earth. This is the father of all perfection and
consummation of the whole world. The povvf;r of it is
INTEGRAL, IF IT BE TURNED INTO EaRTH. ThOU SHALT SE-
PARATE THE EARTH FROM THE FIRE, THE SUBTLE FROM THE
GROSS, GENTLY, WITH MUCH SAGACITY. It ASCENDS FROM
EARTH TO HEAVEN, AND AGAIN DESCENDS TO EARTH ; AND RE-
CEIVES THE STRENGTH OF THE SUPERIORS AND OF THE INFE-
RIORS. So THOU HAST THE GLORY OF THE WHOLE WORLD :
THEREFORE LET ALL OBSCURITY FLEE BEFORE THEE. ThIS IS
THE STRONG FORTITUDE OF ALL FORTITUDES, OVERCOMING
EVERY SUBTLE AND PENETRATING EVERY SOLID THING. So
THE WORLD WAS CREATED. HeNCE WERE WONDERFUL ADAP-
> Plotinus's Select Works, Taylor, p. 453.
The Subtle Work. 473
TATIONS, OF WHICH THIS IS THE MANNEE. ThEKEFOEE AM I
CALLED ThEICE GeEAT HeEMES, HATI>'G THE THEEE PAETS
OF THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE WHOLE TTOELD. ThAT WHICH I
HATE SPOKEN IS CONSUMMATED CONCEENING THE OPEEATION
OF THE Sun.
The six following "Keys," delivered into the safe
hand of the intelhgent inquirer (since they will be use-
ful to none else) , may be acceptable ; that, without
involving more responsibility on ourselves, he may
apply their explanatory words as he thinks fit. But
we would deter all from hasty trial and avow our
wilfiil reservation of an important link in the applica-
tion of these principles to practice, lest any attempting
to realize,, without a full investigation of the method,
should fail utterly in the pursuit.
474
CHAPTER III.
The Six Keys of Eudoxus, opening into the most
Secret Philosophy.
THE FIRST KEY.
THE First Key is that which opens'the dark prisons
in which the Sulphur is shut up : this is it which
knows hotv to extract the seed out of the body, and
which forms the Stone of the philosophers by the con-
junction of the spirit with the body — of sulphur with
mercury. Hermes has manifestly demonstrated the
operation of this First Key' by these words: In the
caverns of the metals there is hidden the Stone, which
is venerable, bright in colour, a mind sublime, and
an open sea. This Stone has a bright glittering : it
contains a Spirit of a sublime original : it is the Sea of
the Wise, in which they angle for their mysterious
Fish. But the operations of the three works have a
great deal of analogy one to another, and the philoso-
phers do designedly speak in equivocal terms, to the
end that those who have not the Lynx's eyes may pur-
sue wrong, and be lost in this labwinth, from whence
it is very hard to get out. In effect, when one
imagines that they speak of one work, they often treat
of another. Take heed, therefore, not to be deceived
here ; for it is a truth, that in each work the Wise
Artist ought to dissolve the body with the spirit ;
he must cut off the Raven's head, whiten the Black,
and vivify the White ; yet it is properly in the
First operation that the Wise Artist cuts off the head of
the Bhick Dragon and of the Raven. Hence, Hermes
says, What is born of the Crow is the beginning of this
Art. Consider that it is by separation of the black,
foul, and stinking fume of the Blackest Black, that
The Six Keys. 475
our astral, white, and resplendent Stone is formed,
which contains in its veins the blood of the Pelican. It
is at this First Purification of the Stone, and at this
shining whiteness, that the work of the First Key
is ended.
THE SECOND KEY.
The Second Key dissolves the compound of the
Stone, and begins the separation of the Elements in a
philosophical manner : this separation of the Elements
is not made but by raising up the subtle and pure
parts above the thick and terrestrial parts. He who
knows how to subhme the Stone philosophically, justly
deserves the name of a philosopher, since he knows
the Fire of the Wise, which is the only Instrument
which can work this sublimation. No philosopher has
ever openly revealed this Secret Fire, and this power-
ful agent, which works all the wonders of the Art : he
who shall not understand it, and not know how to
distinguish it by the characters whereby it is described,
ought to make a stand here, and pray to God to make
it clear to him ; for the knowledge of this great Secret
is rather a gift of Heaven, than a Light acquired by the
natural force of reasoning; let him, nevertheless, read
the writings of the philosophers ; let him meditate ;
and, above all, let him pray : there is no difficulty
which may not in the end be made clear by Work, Me-
ditation, and Prayer. Without the sublimation of the
Stone, the conversion of the Elements and the extrac-
tion of the Principles is impossible ; and this conver-
sion, w^hich makes Water of Earth, Air of Water, and
Fire of Air, is the only way whereby our Mercury can be
prepared. Apply yourself then to know this secret
Fire, which dissolves the Stone naturally and without
violence, and makes it dissolve into Water in the great
sea of the Wise, by the distillation which is made bij the
rays of the Sun and Moon. It is in this manner that
the Stone, which, according to Hermes, is the vine of
the Wise, becomes their Wine, which, by the operations
of Art, produces their rectified Water of Life, and their
476 Hermetic Practice.
most sharp Vinegar. The Elements of the Stone can-
not be dissolved but by this Natm'e wholly Divine;
nor can a perfect dissolution be made of it, but after a
proportioned digestion and putrefaction, at which the
operation of the Second Key of the First Work is
ended.
THE THIRD KEY.
The Third Key comprehends of itself alone a longer
train of operations than all the rest together. The
philosophers have spoken very little of it, seeing the
Perfection of our Mercurij depends thereon ; the sin-
cerest even, as Artefius, Trevisan,Flammel, have passed
in silence the Preparation of our Mercury, and there
is hardly one found who has not feigned, instead of
showing the longest and the most important of the
operations of our Practice. With a design to lend you
a hand in this part of the w^ay which you have to go,
and where for want of Light it is impossible to know
the true road, I will enlarge myself more than others
have done on this Third Key ; or at least I will follow
in an order, that W'hich they have treated so con-
fusedly, that without the inspiration of Heaven, or
w^ithout the help of a faithful friend, one remains un-
doubtedly in this labyrinth, without being able to find
a happy deliverance from thence. I am sure, that you
who are the true Sons of Science will receive a very
great satisfaction in the explaining of these hidden
]\Iysteries, which regard the separation and the purifi-
cation of the Pr'mciples of oia^ JMercury, which is
made by a perfect dissolution and glorification of the
body, whence it had its nativity, and by the intimate
union of the soul with its body, of whom the Spirit is
the only tie which uorks this conjunction. This is
the Intention, and the essential point of the Operations
of this Key, which terminate at the generation of a
new substance infinitely nobler than the First.
After the Wise Artist has made a spring of living
water come out of the Stone, and has pressed out the
vine of the philosophers, and has made their wine, he
The Six Keys. 477
ought to take notice that in this homogeneous sub-
stance, which appears under the form of Water, there
are three different substances, and three natural prin-
ciples of bodies — Salt, Sulphur, and Mercury — which
are the spirit, the soul, and the body ; and though
they appear pure and perfectly united together, there
still wants much of their being so ; for when by distil-
lation ice draw the Water, tvhich is the soul and the
spirit, the Body remains in the bottom of the vessel, like
a dead, black, and dreggy earth, which, nevertheless,
is not to be despised ; for in our subject there is
nothing which is not good. The philosopher, John
Pontanus, protests that the very superfluities of the
Stone are converted into a true essence, and that
he who pretends to separate anything from our sub-
ject knows nothing of philosophy ; for that all which
is therein superfluous, unclean, dreggy — in fine, the
whole compound, is made perfect by the action of our
Fire. This advice opens the Eyes of those, who,
to make an exact purification of the Elements and of
the Principles, persuade themselves that they must
only take the subtile and cast away the heavy. But
Hermes says the power of it is not integral until it be
turned into earth ; neither ought the sons of science
to be ignorant that the Fire and the Sulphur are
hidden in the centre of the Earth, and that they must
wash it exactly with its spirit, to extract out of it the
Fixed Salt, which is the Blood of our Stone. This
is the Essential Mystery of the operation, which is not
accomplished till after a convenient digestion and a
slow distillation. You know that nothing is more con-
trary than fire and water; but yet the Wise Artist must
make peace between the enemies, who radically love
each other vehemently. Cosmopolite told the manner
thereof in a. few words: — All things thei^efore being
purged make Fire and Water to be Friends, which they
will easily do in their Earth which had ascended with
them. Be then attentive on this point ; moisten often-
times the earth with its water, and you will obtain what
you seek. Must not the body be dissolved by the
478 Hermetic Practice.
water, and the Earth he penetrated with its Humidity,
to he made proper for generation ? According to phi-
losophers, the Spirit is Eve, the Body is Adam ; they
ought to be joined together for the propagation of
their species. Hermes says the same in other terms :
For Water is the strongest Nature which surmounts and
excites the Jixed Nature in the Body, that is, rejoices in
it. In effect, these two substances, which are of the
same nature but of different genders, ascend insensibly
together, leaving but a little foeces in the bottom of
their vessel ; so that the soul, spirit, and body, after
an exact purification, appear at last inseparably united
under a more noble and more perfect Form than it was
before, and as ^idifferent from its first liquid Form as
the alcohol of Wine exactly rectified and acuated with
its salt is different from the substance of the wine
from whence it has been drawn : this comparison is
not only very fitting, but it furthermore gives the sons
of science a precise knowledge of the operations of the
Third Key.
Our Water is a living spring which comes out of the
Stone by a natural miracle of our philosophy. The
first of all is the water which issueth out of this
Stone. It is Hermes who has pronounced this great
Truth. He acknowledges, further, that this water is
the Foundation of our Art. The philosophers give it
many names ; for sometimes they call it wine, some-
times water of life, sometimes vinegar, sometimes oil,
according to the difterent degrees of Preparation, or
according to the diverse effects which it is capable of
producing. Yet I let you know that it is properly
called the Vinegar of the Wise, and that in the distilla-
tion of this Divine Liquor there happens the same thing
as in that of common vinegar ; you may hence draw
instruction : the water and the phlegm ascend first ;
the oily substance, in which the efficacy of the water
consists, comes the last, &c. It is therefore necessary
to dissolve the body entirely, to extract all its humi-
dity which contains the precious ferment, the sulphur,
that balm of Nature, and wonderful unguent, without
The Six Keys. 479
which you ought not to hope ever to see in your ves-
sel this blackness so desired by all the philosophers.
Reduce then the whole compound into water, and
make a perfect union of the volatile with the fixed ; it
is a precept of Senior's, which deserves attention, that
the highest fume should be reduced to the lowest ; for
the divine water is the thing descending from heave?!,
the reducer of the soul to its body, ivhich it at length
revives. The Balm of Life is hid in these unclean
foeces ; you ought to wash them with this coelestial
water until you have removed away the blackness
from them, and then your Water shall be animated with
this Fiery Essence, ivhich works all the ivonders of our
Art.
But, further, that you may not be deceived with the
terms of the Compound, I will tell you that the philo-
sophers have two sorts of compounds. The first is
the compound of Nature, whereof I have spoken in
the First Key ; for it is Nature which makes it in a
manner incomprehensible to the Artist, who does no-
thing but lend a Hand to Nature by the adhibition of
external things, by the means of which she brings
forth and produces this admirable compound. The
second is the compound of Art ; it is the Wise man
who makes it by the secret union of the fixed with the
volatile, perfectly conjoined with all prudence, which
cannot be acquired but by the lights of a profound
philosophy. The compound of Art is not altogether
the same in the Second as in the Third Work ; yet it
is always the Artist who makes it. Geber defines it,
a mixture of Argent vive and Sulphur, that is to say,
of the volatile and the fixed ; which, acting on one
another, are volatilized and fixed reciprocally into a
perfect Fixity. Consider the example of Nature ; you
see that the earth will never produce fruit if it be not
penetrated with its humidity, and that the humidity
would always remain barren if it were not retained and
fixed by the dryness of the earth. So, in the Art, you
can have no success if you do not in the first work
purify the Serpent, born of the SHme of the earth ;
480 Hermetic Practice.
if you do not whiten these foul and black foeces, to
separate from thence the white sulphur, which is the
Sal Amoniac of the Wise, and their Chaste Diana,
who washes herself in the bath ; and all this mystery
is but the extraction of the Jixed salt of our com-
pound, in which the whole energy of our Mercury
consists. The water wiiich ascends by distillation
carries up with it a part of this fiery salt, so that the
affusion of the water on the body, reiterated many
times, impregnates, fattens, and fertilizes our JMercury,
and makes it fit to be fixed, which is the end of the
Second Work. One cannot better explain this Truth,
than by Hermes, in these words : When I saiv that the
water by degrees did become thicker and harder I did
rejoice, for I certainly knew that I should Jind ichat I
sought for. It is not without reason that the philo-
sophers give this viscous Liquor the name of Pontick
Water. Its exuberant ponticity is indeed the true
character of its virtue, and the more you shall rec-
tify it, and the more you shall w^ork upon it, the more
virtue will it acquire. It has been called the Water of
Life, because it gives life to the metals ; but it is pro-
perly called the great Lunaria, because of its bright-
ness w^herewith it shines.
Since I speak only to you, ye ti*ue scholars of
Hermes, I will reveal to you one secret which you will
not find entirely in the books of the philosophers.
Some of them say, that of their liquor they make two
Mercuries — the one White and the other Red; Flammel
has said more particularly, that one must make use of
the citrine Mercury to make the Imbibition to the
Red ; giving notice to the Sons of Art not to be de-
ceived on this point, as he himself had been, unless
the Jew had informed him of the truth. Others have
taught that the White Mercury is the bath of the
Moon, and that the Red Mercury is the bath of the
Sun. But there are none who have been wdlling to show
distinctly to the Sons of the Science by what means
they may get these two mercuries. If you apprehend
me well, you have the point already cleared up to you.
TuR Six Keys. 481
The Lunaria is the White Mercury, the most sharp
Vinegar is the Red Mercury ; but the better to deter-
mine these two mercuries, feed them with flesh of their
own species — the blood of innocents whose throats
are cut ; that is to say, the spirits of the bodies are the
Bath where the Sun and Moon goto wash themselves.
I have unfolded to you a great Mystery, if you reflect
well on it ; the philosophers who have spoken thereof
have passed over this important point very slightly.
Cosmopohte has very wittily mentioned it by an in-
genious allegory, speaking of the purification of the
Mercury : This will be done, says he, if you shall give
our old man gold and silver to swalloic, that he may
consunie them, and at length he also dying may be burnt.
He makes an end of describing the whole magistery in
these terms ; — Let his ashes be streived in the water ;
boil it until it is enough, and you have a medicine to
cure the leprosy. You must not be ignorant that Our
Old Man is our Mercury ; this name indeed agrees
with him because He is the Jirst matter of all metals.
He is their water, as the same author goes on to say,
and to which he gives also the name of steel and of the
loadstone ; adding, for a greater confirmation of what
I am about to discover to you, that if gold couples with
it eleven times it sends forth its seed, and is debilitated
almost unto death ; but the Chalybes conceives and be-
gets a son more glorious than the Father. Behold a
great Mystery which I reveal to you without an
enigma ; this is the secret of the two mercuries which
contain the two tinctures. Keep them separately,
and do not confound their species, for fear they should
beget a monstrous Lineage.
I not only speak to you more intelligibly than any
philosopher before has done, but I also reveal to you
the most essential point in the Practice ; if you medi-
tate thereon, and apply yourself to understand it well ;
but above all, if you work according to those lights
which I give you, you may obtain what you seek for.
And if you come not to these knowledges by the way
which I have pointed out to you, I am very well as-
I I
482 Hermetic Practice.
sured that you will hardly arrive at your design by
only reading the philosophers. Therefore despair of
nothing — search the source of the Liquor of the Sages,
which contains all that is necessary for the work ; it is
hidden under the Stone — strike upon it with the Rod
of Magic Fire, and a clear fountain will issue out : then
do as I have shown you, prepare the bath of the King
with the blood of the Innocents, and you will have the
animated Mercury of the wise, which never loses its
virtue, if you keep it in a vessel well closed. Hermes
says, that there is so much sympathy between the pu-
rified bodies and the spirits, that they never quit one
another when they are united together : because this
union resembles that of the soul with the glorified
body ; after which. Faith tells us, there shall be
no more separation or death ; because the spirits de-
sire to be in the cleansed bodies, and having them,
they enliven and dwell in them. By this you may ob-
serve the merit of this precious liquor, to which the
philosophers have given more than a thousand dif-
ferent names, which is in sum the great Alchaest,
which radically dissolves the metals — a true perma-
nent water which, after having radically dissolved
them, is inseparably united to them, increasing their
weight and tincture.
THE FOURTH KEY.
The Fourth Key of the Art is the entrance to the
Second Work (and a reiteration in part and develop-
ment of the foregoing) : it is this which reduces our
Water into Earth ; there is but this only Water in the
world, which by a bare boiling can be converted into
Earth, because the Mercury of the Wise carries in its
centre its own Sulphur, which coagulates it. The ter-
rification of the Spirit is the only operation of this
work. Boil them with patience; if you have pro-
ceeded well, you will not be a long time without per-
ceiving the marks of this coagulation ; and if they
appear not in their time, they will never appear ; be-
cause it is an undoubted sign that you have failed in
The Six Keys. 483
some essential thing in the former operations ; for to
corporify the Spirit, which is our Mercury, you must
have well dissolved the body in which the Sulphur
which coagulates the Mercury is enclosed. But
Hermes assumes that our mercurial water shall obtain
all the virtues which the philosophers attribute to it
if it be turned into earth. An earth admirable is it for
fertility — the Land of Promise of the Wise, who,
knowing how to make the dew of Heaven fall upon it,
cause it to produce fruits of an inestimable price.
Cultivate then diligently this precious earth, moisten
it often with its own humidity, dry it as often, and
you will no less augment its virtue than its weight
and its fertility.
THE FIFTH KEY.
The Fifth Key includes the Fermentation of the
Stone with the perfect body, to make thereof the
medicine of the Third order. I will say nothing in
particular of the operation of the Third work ; except
that the Perfect Body is a necessary leaven of Our
Paste. And that the Spirit ought to make the union
of the paste with the leaven in the same manner as
water moistens meal, and dissolves the leaven to com-
pose a fermented paste fit to make bread. This com-
parison is very proper ; Hermes first made it, saying,
that as a paste cannot be fermented ivithout a ferment ;
so luhen you shall have sublimed, cleansed, and sepa-
rated the foulness from the Fceces, and would make
the conjunction, put a ferment to them and make the
water earth, that the paste may be made a ferment ;
which repeats the instruction of the whole work, and
shows, that just so as the whole lump of the paste
becomes leaven, by the action of the ferment which
has been added, so all the philosophic confection be-
comes, by this operation, a leaven proper to ferment a
new matter, and to multiply it to infinity. If you ob-
serve well how bread is made, you will find the pro-
portions also, w4iich you ought to keep among the
matters which compose our philosophical paste. Do
I I 2
484 Hermetic Practice.
not the bakers put more meal than leaven, and more
water than the leaven and the meal? The laws of
Nature are the rules you ought to follow in the prac-
tice of our magistery. I have given you, upon the
principal points, all the instructions which are neces-
sary for you, so that it would be superfluous to tell
you more of it ; particularly concerning the last oper-
ations, about which the Adepts have been less re-
served than at the First, which are the foundations of
the Art.
THE SIXTH KEY.
The Sixth Key teaches the Multiplication of the
Stone, by the reiteration of the same operation, which
consists but in opening and shutting, dissolving and
coagulating, imbibing and drying ; whereby the vir-
tues of the Stone are infinitely augmentable. As my
design has been not to describe entirely the apphca-
tion of the three medicines, but only to instruct you
in the more important operations concerning the pre-
paration of Mercury, which the philosophers com-
monly pass over in silence, to hide the mysteries
from the profane which are only intended for the wise,
I will tarry no longer upon this point, and will tell
you nothing more of what relates to the Projection of
the Medicine, because the success you expect depends
not thereon. I have not given you very full instruc-
tions except on the Third Key, because it contains a long
train of operations, which, though simple and natural,
require a great understanding of the Laws of Nature,
and of the qualities of Our Matter, as well as a perfect
knowledge of chemistry and of the different degrees of
heat which are fitting for these operations. 1 have
conducted you by the straight way without any wind-
ing ; and if you have well minded the road which I
have pointed out to you, I am sure that you will go
straight to the end without straying. Take this in
good part from me, in the design which I had of
sparing you a thousand labours and a thousand trou-
bles, which I myself have undergone in this painful
The Six Keys. 485
journey for want of an assistance, such as this is which
I give you from a sincere heart and a tender affection
for all the true sons of science. I should much be-
wail, if, like me, after having known the true Matter,
you should spend fifteen years entirely in the work, in
study and in meditation, without being able to extract
out of the Stone the precious juice which it encloses
in its bosom, for want of knowing the secret fire of
the wise, which makes to run out of this plant (dry
and withered in appearance) a water which wets not
the hands, and which by a magical union of the dry
water of the sea of the wise, is dissolved into a viscous
water — into a mercurial liquor, which is the beginning,
the foundation, and the Key of our Art : — Convert, se-
parate, and purify the elements, as I have taught you,
and you will possess the true Mercury of the philoso-
phers, which will give you the fixed Sulphur and the
Universal Medicine. But I give you notice, moreover,
that even after you shall be arrived at the knowledge
of the Secret Fire of the Wise, yet still you shall not
attain your point at your first career. I have erred
many years in the way which remains to be gone, to
arrive at the mysterious fountain where the King
bathes himself, is made young again, and retakes a
new life exempt from all sorts of infirmities. Besides
this you must know how to purify, to heal, and to
animate the royal bath ; it is to lend you a hand in
this secret way that I have expatiated under the
Third Key, where all those operations are described.
I wish with all my heart that the instructions which I
have given you may enable you to go directly to the
End. Bat remember, ye sons of philosophy, that the
knowledge of our Magistery comes rather by the In-
spiration of Heaven, than from the Lights which we
can get by ourselves. This truth is acknowledged by
all artists ; it is for this reason that it is not
enough to work ; pray daily, read good books, and
meditate night and day on the operations of Nature,
and on what she may be able to do when she is as-
sisted by the help of our Art : and by these means
486 Hermetic Practice.
you will succeed without doubt in your undertaking.
This is all I have now to say to you. I was not will-
ing to make you such a long discourse as the matter
seemed to demand ; neither have I told you anything
but what is essential to our Art ; so that if you know
the Stone which is the only matter of Our Stone, and
if you have the Understanding of Our Fire, which is
both secret and natural, you have the Keys of the Art,
and you can calcine Our Stone ; not by the common
calcination which is made by the violence of fire, but
by a philosophic calcination which is purely natural.
Yet observe this, with the most enlightened philoso-
phers, that there is this difference between the com-
mon calcination which is made by the force of Fire
and the natural calcination ; that the first destroys the
body and consumes the greatest part of its radical
humidity ; but the second does not only preserve the
humidity of the body in calcining it, but still consi-
derably augments it. Experience will give you know-
ledge in the Practice of this great truth, for you will in
effect find that this philosophical calcination, which
sublimes and distils the Stone in calcining it, much
augments its humidity ; the reason is that the igneous
spirit of the natural fire is corporified in the substances
which arc analogous to it. Our Stone is an Astral
Fire which sympathizes with the Natural Fire, and
which, as a true Salamander receives its nativity, is
nourished and grows in the Elementaiy Fire, which is
geometrically proportioned to it.
The Keys of Eudoxus open no more ; and as these
last ones, entering to the Multiplication and Projec-
tion, are avowedly defective, and the information may
be interesting to the studious, we propose to supply
it briefly from another and not less credible source.
It remains only for the work of Multiplication, says
the Author of the Opoi Entrance, to take one part of
the Perfect Matter and to join it with three or four
parts at most of the Mercury of the First Work, and
to place both in a vessel well luted and sealed ; and, by
The Multiplication and Projection. 487
the help of a gentle and well-regulated fire, you will
see with satisfaction all the operations before named
pass through rapidly in seven days, and the virtue is
augmented a thousand times in this revelation above
what it was before. Tiien repeat thereupon the same
operation, and all will be run through before your eyes
in three days, and the matter will have again attained
by this a redoubled virtue. After this, if you desire to
repeat the same work, one natural day will complete
the whole, and every regiment of the colours will in
that brief space be passed through ; which, if the
same process be again repeated, an hour will suffice,
increasing likewise in multiplicable proportion, thou-
sands by thousands; so that at length, if you multiply it
a fifth time, you will be no longer able to calculate the
strength of the medicine. Render thanks to God, then,
who hath put into thy possession the universal treasury
of nature. —
And for the final Projection, as the metalline per-
fectibility of the matter is sometimes called, we have
this concluding advice : —
Take one part of your perfect Stone, whether white
or red ; then cause to be melted in a crucible four
parts of one of the fixed metals, i. e. silver if it
be for the white, or gold if it be for the red ; join to
this one part of the Stone, according to the kind that
you desire to produce ; throw the whole into a horn,
and there will result to you a pulverizable mass. Take
then ten parts of mercury purged and purified, place
it on the fire, and when it begins to crackle and to
smoke throw in one part of your powder, which will,
in the twinkhng of an eye as it were, penetrate the
mercury ; melt this w^ith an augmented fire ; and you
will have the medicine, though of an inferior order.
Take one part of this last matter and project it on any
metal so that it be only purified and set in fusion ; pro-
ject only as much of the Stone as you desire to tinge
of the metal, and you will have gold or silver more
pure than that which nature ever yields. However it
is always best to make projection by degrees until the
488 Hermetic Practice.
Stone yields no more tincture ; because, in projecting a
small quantity of powder on a large quantity of im-
perfect metals (except indeed our Ahrcury alone) , the
Stone sustains great loss on account of the impurities
with which they abound. Therefore, the more the
metal is purijicd before projection, the more successful
will be the transmutation.^
But, be it remembered, there is a tW'Ofold fermenta-
tion— a spiritual and a bodily. The spiritual fermenta-
tion is performed by multiplying the tinctures, which
is not done with common gold or silver ; for they are
not tinctures, but gross compacted bodies. — Be thou
well advised, says Sendivogius in hi^ Praxis, that thou
takest not common gold or silver, for these are dead ;
take Ours which are living; then put them into Our Fire
and let there be made of them a dry liquor : first of
all the Earth will be resolved into Water, which is
called the Mercury of philosophers, and that water
shall resolve those bodies of gold and silver, and shall
consume them so that there shall remain but the
tenth part with one part ; and this shall be the radi-
cal moisture of metals. Then take water and salt-
nitre, which comes from Our Earth in which there is
a river of living water, if thou diggest the pit knee
deep, therefore take the water out of that ; but take
that which is clear ; upon this put that radical mois-
ture ; and set it over the fire of putrefaction and gene-
ration, not on such a one as thou didst in the first
operation : govern all things with a great deal of dis-
cretion, until colours appear like a peacock's tail ;
govern it by digesting it, and be not weary, until these
colours be ended, and there appear throughout the
whole one green colour, and so of the rest ; and when
thou shalt see in the bottom ashes of a fiery colour
and the water almost red, open the vessel, dip in a
pen, and smear some Iron with it ; if it tinge, have in
readiness that water which has been spoken of, and
' From tlio Introitus Apertus of Eirenius Philalethes, cap.
xxxiv. I 1
The Multiplication and Projection. 489
put in so much of that water as the cold air was
which went in, boil it again with the former fire, until
it tinge again. So far reached my experience ; — I can
do no more, says the wary Artist, I found out no
more. — Now that water must be the menstruum of
the world, out of the sphere of the Moon so often
rectified until it can calcine gold.^
And when thou hast made the Stone and magic me-
dicine, says Vaughan, and it is become a liquid fiery
spiritual substance, shining like the sun, in this com-
plexion, if you would project, you would hardly find
the just proportion : the virtue of the medicine is so
intensive and powerful. The philosophers therefore
take one part of their Stone and cast it upon ten parts
of pure molten gold — this single grain brings all the
gold to a bloody powder; and, on the contrary, the gross
body of the gold abates the spiritual strength of the
projected grain. This descent or incorporation, some
wise authors have called a bodily fermentation ; but
the philosophers did not use common gold to make
their Stone (though so many deceptively write about
it), they used it only to qualify the utensive power of
it when it was made, that they might the more easily
find what quantity of base metal they should project
upon. By this means they reduced their medicine to
a dust, and this dust is the Arabian Elixir. This
Elixir the philosophers could carry about them ; but
the medicine itself not so, for it is such a subtle moist
fire that there is nothing but (its proper) glass that
will hold it.2
And it siifficeth iu one glasse to put
So much of composition as may cost
The price of half an ounce of gold, which shut
"With Hermes' seal, no fear it should be lost ;
Except some error be committed, which
How to avoid I faithfully shall teach.^
And because our intention is to the changing of
' Sendivogius' New Light of Alchemy, Treatise xi.
2 Vaughan' s Lumen de Lumiiie, p. 95. Norton's Ordinal,
chap. ii.
^ Marrow of Alchemy, book iii p. 77.
490 Hermetic Practice.
metals into gold, says the Author of Luccnia Scilis,
it is requisite that they should first be fermented with
very good and most pure gold ; for otherwise the im-
perfect metals would not be able to support its too
great and supreme subtlety ; but there would rather
ensue loss and damage in the projection. The im-
perfect and impure metals (let not the allusion here
be misapprehended) must also be purified, if one will
draw any profit therefrom ; one drachm of gold is
sufficient for the fermentation in the red, and one
drachm of silver for the fermentation in the white.
And the artist need not to be at the trouble of buying
gold or silver for this fermentation, because, with one
single very small part, the tincture may afterwards be
augmented more and more in such a manner that
whole ships might be loaded with the precious metal
that would accrue from this confection. For if this
medicine be multiplied, and be again dissolved and
coagulated by the virtue of its mercury, white or red,
of which it was prepared, then the tinging virtue
will be augmented each time by ten degrees in perfec-
tion, which may be reiterated as often as one pleases.^
Like the sun's atoms 'tis a powder fine,
Wliite for tlie white, and red for red projection.
The metals, by it teined, exceed the mine
In piu'ity ; and such is its perfection
That he who hath it in an hour's space
And less than, may command in any place.
At first it is of virtue very small,
Compared with the might it doth attain
By oft reiteration : who so shall
It oft dissolve, and then congeal again.
Shall find a medicine that will translate
Innumerable parts to Sol's estate.
'Tis ponderous and yet in grains divided,
That powder all appears as soft as silk,
On metal it, like wax, in flux is guided
To enter to the centre, just like milk
Is penetrated by the Kennet sour,
And curdled in the minute of an hour.
This medicine is best thus to project :
First on a portion of the metal pure,
' See Digby's Lucerna Salis, cap. viii.
The Multiplication and Projection. 491
Which of the powder is to be effect
As red on gold, on silver eke be sure,
The white to throw, one part of this, your Stone
On four of metal, or else five to one.
Then brittle like to glasse that masse will be,
Of colour bright and shining very clear,
Yet not transparent, also thou shalt see
Its virtue lessened, which will appear
To view most glittering, like a ruby fair,
Then upon Argent vive cast this with care.
On ten parts one so long project until
The tincture to decrease thou shalt perceive.
Which being done, thou soon shalt, at thy will,
Most perfect Sol and Lune from fire receive ;
Thus guide thy operation aad be sure,
The effect will prove both gold and silver pure.
And if thou list thy essence to augment
In goodness or in weight, thou so maist work,
That never shall thy stock with use be spent,
So great a power in this Stone doth lurk,
That it, like fire, is apt to multiply
Itself in weight as eke in dignity.
A portion once I saw, and found by proof.
That which a man's belief might far exceed
Of the Red medicine, which for behoof
Of such who to this science may proceed,
I shall declare, by which may well appear
That useless it is not, as many fear
I saw then, as I said, a powder so
Increast in virtue, scarce to be believed
That so smaU quantity, as scarce would show
In bulk a grain, nor weighed much more indeed,
Which yet to gold so great a quantity
Could well transmute as may be deemed a lye.
No man by art its number could attain.
So great it was, yet was the tincture sound,
For on an ounce projected was that grain.
In which perfection did so abound,
That all was essence made, of which one grain
Was cast upon ten times as much again.
That is one ounce in ten, and these likewise
On ten times more, which yet was medicine made,
Ten more to one of these would not suffice.
To metal it to bring ; nor was't aUay'd,
So with these oft projections made before,
But one at last ting'd ninety thousand more.^
^ Eirendus' Marrow of Alchemy, book iii. v. 45, &c.
492 Hermetic Practice.
And the Author of the Rosary declares that he who
shall have accomplished this Art, even though he were
to live thousands of years, and ev^ery day maintain
thousands of men, yet he would never know scarcity ;
having attained this hlessed abundance, also, not by
the oppression of others or by unlawful means, but
I by industry, patience, and the labour of his own hand.
^ (^ And not only, continues Eiren^us, could he transmute
baser metals into gold and silver, but make precious
stones also more beautiful and perfect than those of
nature ; and would possess a universal medicine, more-
over, capable of curing all diseases ; even one adept,
were he permitted, might impart health to the wdiole
world. ^
But lest this kind of testimony should grow egregious,
and our book, by ill hazard falling into the hand of
some credulous dunce or adventurous gold-seeker,
should detain either for a moment to deliberate about
looking at home for that wdiich their instinct and pro-
per destiny w^ould otherwise direct them to find
abroad, we desist therofmf^, and implore these, should
there be any, as they value their ow^n lives and peace
of mind and fortune, to regard nothing of all that has
been written. For would it not, even supposing the
whole of the assertions to be true, (and wdiich literally
taken they are not) would it not, w^e ask, be a delirious
speculation for any one to undertake to make the pre-
cious metal which is to be had in plentiful abundance,
all ready elaborated by nature, ripe, and easy to his
hand ; to be had for the mere gathering, and if not
without some natural risk, yet without laborious study
or other mystical alloy ? — Let not one then be allured
by the ultimate promises of Alchemy ; which are the
rewards only of a longsutlering and laborious life ; of
unwearying thought, patience under afflictions, conquest
over unruly passions, hunger, thirst, stripes merited
and unmerited, persecutions, indigence, self-denial — all
* lutroitug Apertiis, cap. xxxv. De Multipiici hujus Artis.
iJjKr
Rewards and Potencies. 493
which philosophers have undergone, even encounter-
ing the terrors of death and hell itself in pursuit of
their object ; which was not gold however, or silver ;
but the substance of these things which, after all,
when it was gotten by them, was despised and sw^al-
lowed up in the vision of a yet more alluring prospect
of the Light.
To sum up then, lest w^e should never come to an
end of this fugitive pursuit — In the last operation the
union of the Philosophic Stone is said to be finally
cemented, in its component parts agreeing and hav-
ing relation to the external world ; which union or
consummation of its transmutative virtue is called
Fermentation. Mark the harmonious mystery — that , n
which in the Cabal is denominated the union of man, ^OLVtvle^-^fC
reduced to the simplicity of the Monad, with God,
that iuy^physico-chemistry is called Fermentation. The
most pious and experienced amongst the Adepts do
not demur either to compare the phenomena of their
work to the Gospel tradition of the Life of Christ
and our human redemption ; ^^nrath, Bohme, Freher,
Grasseus, and various others amongst the more modern,
agree with the early Adepts ; pointing out too how, in
every minute respect, their magistery not only cor-
responds, but is in very deed a type, and promise, and
foundation of our Christian Creed. Not, be it under-
stood, that they identify or in the least confound the
metalline perfection, which belongs to the primary
evolution of life only, with the ultimate Divine asso-
ciation ; but they show that their Stone exhibits, alike
in its origin, developement and artificial preparation
throughout, the Universal Law of Light in Nature.
And as man, united with God, becomes divinely em-
powered, and therefore can do what he wills, since he
wills what God Himself does in consonance with reason ;
so does the Philosopher's Stone in the greater world,
fermented in its parts by reason of the fermentation,
transform itself into which it wills, and works for
494 Hermetic Practice.
the diverse natures of all things, coequals itself to all,
to every and each, and to universals.
It is the universal medium of restoration and pre-
servation, says K«knrath, which by its own equilibriate
virtue expels suffering and every disease whether of
mind or body ; in either kingdom of nature rectifying,
according to the capability of each. Metals it is said to
benefit by transference of their radical moisture, depriv-
ing its terrestreity and foreign oxides ; vegetables, by
an increase of their efflorescent spirit ; and animals, ac-
cording to the natural exigence of their being. Azoth
of our Stone, continues he, reduces bodies to their First
Matter and reanimates them with the Universal Form,
crystals it advances to gems, and many pearls artificially
it concretes into one. Metals, also, as I myself have
seen, crystals, gems, as well as gold, it makes fluid
and potable ; it frees animals from disease, and pre-
serves them in the strength of its virtue ; it refreshes
vegetables ; though nearly dead it will revive them ;
fermented with the specific essence of simples, and me-
thodically applied in a fitting lamp, its enduring water,
lighted by art, burns perpetually, for ever. It expels
and drives away evil spirits from the possessed —
wherefore not ? There are particular potencies in na-
ture which malignant powers give way to — why not to
the universal? The author of confusion could not
endure symmetry. — It exalts and ennobles natural abi-
lity in the healing art, and it draivs doivn sublime me-
mory and prudence. It wonderfully excites perpetual
joy, and an honest boldness and fortitude of mind ex-
hilarating all life. And, that I may include many
things in a few words, it is miraculously efficient in all
the productions of nature, also the sublunary spirits,
for every and all of these, by an inherent necessity,
obey this Stone. ^
For this powerful vivific Ens is of the same origin
as that which it assimilates — viz., the Universal Spirit,
' JfeAnrath Amph. cap. ix. &c., in fine.
Rewards and Potencies. 495
which has been so often fermented, rectified, and re-
calcined, until the central force being wholly drawn
without, acts forcibly at the circumference, and is able
to draw, by a supernatural magnetism, the Homogeneal
Nature everywhere into itself, according to the Rational
Form inbred. And hence we may conceive why the
Hermetic philosophers have given it the name of
Azoth, which adheres to bodies; which if thou dost
rightly conceive, says Ifehnrath, thou art he of whom it
may be truly said, He who has begun aright, has done
half of the whole. The Stone is fermented with its
metal existing in the highest purity, with pure silver
for the White, and with Red for fine Gold. And this
is the work of three days.^
The Stone is here said accurately to be fermented
with its own metal : for is not Light the true Aurific
Seed ; not common Light, but that which in the first
rotary wheel of life becomes efficient, which is poten-
tially included everywhere in either kingdom of na-
ture, though laid asleep ? Or what else should pos-
sibly transmute or multiply by its own assimilative
virtue? What else but Light can multiply, or does
multiply, anyhow or anywhere ; and if everywhere
else, why not in the mineral kingdom, when set free
to attract its proper fuel indeficiently, without hetero-
geneous hindrance or alloy?
And if in the mineral kingdom it can overcome so
great inertness, and renews the vegetable spirit, im-
parting health and increase to decaying nature, how
much greater benefits will it not bestow on man who
nourished it ? Nor in the outward ministration of the
medicament only, but above all, and most perma-
nently, in the vital rectification. Thus Juhan, in his
Oration to the Ejrtra-Mundane Alother, for example,
tells us that when the soul gives herself to Divinity,
and wholly delivers herself to the guidance of a better
nature, divine institutions, through purification, taking
the lead, the Divine Light will immediately shine on
1 Amph. Sap. Etern. cap. viii. p. 211.
^/
496 Hermetic Practice.
her ; and, in consequence of being thus deified, she
transfuses a certain vigorous strength into her connate
spirit, which, when included, and as it were possess-
ing dominion, becomes, through this spirit, the cause
of safety to the whole body. For, continues the Em-
peror, diseases, or at least the greater part, happen
from the mutative and erroneous motion of the spirit
— which physicians likewise allow ; or, at all events,
that those most difficult to be cured originate from
thence. For health is a certain symmetry or equiH-
brium of nature, which it is the pre-eminent power of
the Telestic art to impart, ordering all things by the
unity within. And, indeed, the oracles testify the
truth of these assertions, when they declare that
through purifying ceremonies bodies become worthy
of receiving divine assistance and health, and that the
mortal vestment of bitter matter will by these means
be preserved.
Harmonia resouat namque, sub qua est corpus mortale.
Extendens, igneam nientem, ad opus pietatis, et fliixile corpus
servabit.i
And that which a man has received, will he not be
able to impart again, and bestow of his exuberant
felicity for the benefaction of others ? Or at least it
is so related of Hippocrates, that he cured extraordi-
nary maladies because he was endowed with a divine
nature, and had carried up medicine from a low estate
unto great achievements. For he was the descent of
many generations, and a divine man, as the tradition
says, by direct descent from JEsculapius on the father's
side, and by his mother Praxithea of the race of the
Heraclides. Wherefore from both seeds he had his origin
from the g<>ds. For he was initiated as a young be-
ginner in medicinal affairs by his great-grandfather, so
far as he knew. But himself did also teach himself— ://«i'-
ing made use of a divifie nature — the whole art. And, in
' Oracula Chaldaica ; Auima, Corpus. Homo ; Juliau's Orations
ii., in fine.
Rewards and Potencies. 497
the industry of his mind, he as far excelled his proge-
fiitors as he also exceeded them in the excellency of
Art. For he takes away (continues the narrator) not
only the kind of bestial, but also of brutishly fierce
and wild diseases, through a great part of the land
and sea; dispersing the succours of -^sculapius, even
as Triptolemus the seed of Ceres ; balmy health and
healing virtues,
Sucli as sage Chiron, sire of pharmacy,
First taught Achilles, and Achilles thee.^
Therefore he hath most justly obtained divine ho-
nours in many places of the earth ; and is made
worthy by the Athenians of the same gifts with
Hercules and ^sculapius. And this man is the
father and preserver of health, the curer of all griefs.
In sum, this man is the prince of divine know-
ledge, concludes the Persian, Petris, in his epistle
addressing Artaxerxes — send thou for Him !^
Honour the physician with the honour due unto
him, says Solomon ; for the Lord created him — as if he
specially were above all men created by God, who is
able to heal the sick and restore life to the distressed,
which all physicians, however, are not able. — But a
physician chosen by God, continues Helmont, His own
signs shall follow, and wonders for the schools ; for he
shall prepare to the honour of God his free gifts, to
the comfort of his neighbour ; compassion shall be his
leader. For he shall possess truth in his heart, and
knowledge in his understanding ; charity and the
mercy of the Lord shall enlighten his way ; and he
shall bestoiv favour of the Lord, and the hope of gain
shall not be in his thoughts. For the Lord is rich
and liberal, and will give him one hundred fold in an
heaped-up measure : He will fructify his work, and
anoint his Hands with Blessing. He will fill his
mouth with consolation and with the trumpet of His
^ Iliad, b. xi. Pope, 965.
2 Helmont, Tumulus Pestis.
K K
498 Hermetic Practice.
Word, from which diseases shall flee. He will fill his
life with length of days, his house with riches, and his
children with the fear of the Lord. His footsteps
shall bring felicity, and diseases shall be in his sigJit as
snow in the noon-day of summer in an open valley.
Curse and punishment shall flee away, and health
shall follow him. These are the promises of the Lord
unto physicians whom He hath chosen. These are
the blessings of those wiio walk in the path of mercy.
Because the Lord loveth those that work mercy ; and
therefore he will enhghten them with his Spirit, the
Comforter, For who is liberal as the Lord, who
giveth many things freely, and, for some small matter,
bestoweth all things ? Blessed is the Lord who saves
the merciful, and who saves him that is to be saved
freely. And consolation shall meet the merciful man
in the way of hope, because he has chosen a faithful
master. — But, continues the same estimable narrator,
arrogance and sloth, which long since extinguished
Charity, but a few^ ages ago sequestered a chirurgeon
also from a physician ; wherefore afterwards servants
handled the manual instruments and operations ; as if
it unbeseemed a Christian to help his neighbour with
his hands. In the mean time some noble matrons
healed defects with their own hands that were de-
spaired of by physicians. And truly after that the
study of ambition and gain were practised, charity
greiv cold, mercij was extinguished, art perished, and
the Giver of Lights withdrew his Gifts ; the number
of our calamities increased, and physicians were made
the fable of the vulgar. Truth retnaiued buried in the
grave of science ; and instead thereof a confused kind
of brawling arose, being discursive, which was ac-
counted for doctrine. And those false doctors de-
scribed and drew of themselves a whole army of dis-
eases, almost grieving, too, that the catalogue of them
was yet so small. For they, being allured with the
facility of the art of Galen, promised to measure all
diseases by the geometrical demonstrations of degrees
of heat and cold, and to heal them all thereby. Chi-
Rewards and Potencies. 499
rurgeons also, as well the modern as the ancient, from
an imitation and emulation of these, largely and widely
treated promiscuously of all diseases, snatching the
cures of them all under themselves, in the sight and
despite of their former masters. Because at first, and
from the root of medicinal ordination, all things be-
longed to be cured only and alone by physicians ; but
unto chirurgeons afterwards only by permission and
from favour. Both of them have failed, however, under
a confused strife and become inefficient.^
So the origin, decline, and fall of the Healing Art has
been pictured by one of its brightest ornaments ; and
truly is it not deplorable to think that knowledge once
so perfectly attained and demonstrated in its efficacy,
should, by a degenerate usage, have been lost to man-
kind? The accounts given by Van Helmont of the
cures which he himself alone effected of some 10,000
individuals yearly, without any diminution of his medi-
cine, would now be unaccredited, except by those few,
perhaps, who, with a fragment of the same virtue, have,
by a benevolent application, learnt to conceive some-
thing of the illimitable powers and artificial increase of
vitalization. These will vindicate the Light, if any, who
observing its first dawn, shall promote it by a truthful
inquiry, nor suffer it again to fall into disuse through
negligence, or by obloquy be tempted to an unchari-
table ambuscade.
And then have we no other defects than those of
body to distress us? Are not our minds, too, ailing,
and is there no balm ready ? Is there no physician
there ? In Greece there were many temples to many
gods — to Ceres, Minerva, Apollo, Bacchus, and the
rest, all ministering to the defects of mind, educating
and disciplining the understanding for the conception of
Wisdom and a better life within. iEsculapius was a
demigod only amongst them, who is of modern Mes-
merism the only just pride. — Honour the physician
with the honour due unto him for the use you may
1 Tumulus Pestis, chap. i.
K K 2
500 Hermetic Practice.
have of him, for the Lord created him. There is a
time when in his hands there is a good success ; then
let him not go from thee, for thou hast need of him. ^ —
But to whom hath the root of Wisdom been rev^ealed ;
or who hatli known her wise councils? Unto whom
hath the knowledge of Wisdom been made manifest ?
or who hath understood her great Experience ? She is
with tdtquen, replies the prophet, according to his
gift ; but Her secret is with the Faithful.^
Now such a faith as the Scriptures inculcate as be-
stowing Wisdom on the possessor, is unknown at this
day ; nor does man any longer seek after the Truth
that is in himself, rarely imagines it even, so far
do we live without the true knowledge of ourselves.
We pray the liberal reader to reflect, therefore, and
link his imagination to the probabilities of reason, and
ponder on the testimony of experience, and believe
that Mesmerism, as it is mechanically practised in the
present day, is a first step indeed, and this only before
the entrance of that glorious temple of Divine Wisdom
which a more scientific Handicraft enabled the an-
cients experimentally to enter, and from its founda-
tion build up, as it were, a crystalline edifice of Light
and Truth. The materials are yet present with us ;
the foundations easily laid ; the will only is wanting
to discover the way, and faith to resuscitate the Corner
Stone, which ignorance has rejected from immemorial
For if man does not enter in to understand himself,
and the evil under which he lies enchanted in this life,
he cannot understand the ancient doctrine concerning
the fall or regeneration, or presume to deliver matter
from the original curse, unless he perceive it, or be
instrumental in the restoration. — While Adam stood
in Paradisaical innocency, explains the theosophist,
The Eternal Word was his leader, and had dominion
in him : his Ufe, which w^as a clear flame, burned in
and was noui'ished by that pure spirit of the divine
^ Ecclesiasticus, viii. 2 IJem, i.
Rewards and Potencies. 501
substantiality, which, together with the Water of
eternal life, generated in the angelical world, gave
forth a glorious and bright shining Light. Imme-
diately after the fall of man, God said to the Serpent,
I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and
between thy seed and her seed ; her seed shall bruise
thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Herein the
Philosopher's Stone or tincture lyeth. For though
this concerneth man, in the first place, yet secondly it
concerneth the whole creation The bruising of the
serpent's head is done spiritually and corporally, both
in nature and in the soul, and though in different de-
grees, yet by a parallel process in each. The serpent's
sting is the wrath fire, and the woman's seed the light
and love fire : these two are in every thing ; the
former predominated in outward nature, by the fall,
and therefore the latter must be raised up, and, by its
shining through the wrath, must subdue and keep it
under ; taking away from it its predominant power, so
that it may exercise its true natural office as a servant
to the light ; that these two may no more stand in
opposition to each other, but be one thing reharmo-
nised by light and love, and re-introduced into Pa-
radise ; when the dark poisoning Mercury is thus
tinctured, his anguishing death is turned into tri-
umphing life, and his former dark desire into the
desire of light, which is able to make a pure love and
light substantiality, — viz., a heavenly body out of an
earthly. The whole work therefore consists sum-
marily herein — That Two Natures be reduced to One,
as they were at the beginning. A heavenly and an
earthly matter are to be mutually united and brought
to a heavenly consistency. Earth must be turned in,
and Heaven out. The Mercury which is therein doth
all this itself: the Artist is not to attempt it — he can-
not do it — he is to prepare the way, the matter as is
requisite, and leave the work to be done by the work-
man which is in it already : nevertheless, understand-
ing and faith are required of him. His design being
no less than to redeem matter from the curse, and
502 Hermetic Practice.
to raise it from the dead, which never can be done by
one who is dead himself in his understanding and in-
ternal life.^
Who then is competent, who qualified to minister
in so great a matter ? Who but he that the Spirit has
already prepared, and endowed with prudence for the
undertaking. — He that is holy, he that is true, he that
hath the Key of David, he that openeth, and no man
shutteth ; and shutteth, and no man openeth.^ Or
what man is he, asks Solomon, that can know the
counsel of God ? or who can think what the Will of
the Lord is? For the thoughts of mortal men are
miserable, and our devices are but uncertain. For the
corruptible body presseth down the soul, and the
earthly tabernacle weigheth down the mind that
museth upon many things. And hardly do we guess
aright at things which are upon earth, and with labour
do we find the things that are before us ; but the
things that are in heaven who hath searched out ?
and thy counsel who hath known, except thou give
Wisdom and send thy llolif Spirit from above 1 For
so the ways of them which lived on the earth were re-
formed, and men were taught the things that are
pleasing vuito thee, and were saved through Wisdom.
She preserved the first formed Father of the world
that was created alone, and brought him out of his
fall, and gave him power to rule all things. But
w^hen the unrighteous went away fi'om her in his
anger, he perished also in the fury wherewith he mur-
dered his brother. For whose cause, the earth being
drowned with the Flood, Wisdom again preserved it,
and directed the course of the righteous in a piece of
ivood of small value. Moreover, the nations in their
wicked conspiring being confounded, she found out the
righteous and preserved him blameless unto God, and
kept him strong against his tender compassion to-
wards his Son. When the ungodly perished, she
1 See D. A. Frelier, Of the Analog}- iu the Process of the Phil.
AYork with the Eedernption of Man through Jesus Christ.
^ Eev. chap. iii. v. 7.
Rewards and Potencies. 503
delivered the righteous man who fled from F'lrt, which
fell upon the Jive cities, of whose wickedness, even to
this day, the waste land that smoketh is a testimony,
and plants bearing fruits that never come to ripeness,
and a standing pillar of Salt is a monument of an un-
believing soul. But Wisdom delivered from pain those
that attended upon her. When the righteous fled
from his brother s wrath, she guarded him in right
paths, showed him the kingdom of God, and gave him
knowledge of holy things ; made him rich in his tra-
vels, and multiplied the fruit of his labours. In the
covetousness of such as oppressed him, she stood by
him and made him rich ; she defended him from his
enemies, and kept him safe from those that lay in
wait, and, in a sore conflict, she gave him the victory :
that he iniaht know that godliness is strong-er than all.
She entered into the soul of the servant of the Lord,
and withstood dreadful kings in wonders and signs.
She rendered to the righteous a reward of their la-
bours, guided them in a marvellous way, and was unto
them for a cover by day and a light of Stars in the
jiight season ; brought them through the Red Sea,
and led them through much water. But she drowned
their enemies, and cast them up out of the bottom of
the Deep. Therefore the righteous spoiled the un-
godly, and praised thy Holy Name, O Lord, and mag-
nified, with one accord, thy Hand that fought for
them. For Wisdom opened the mouth of the dumb,
and made the tongues of them that cannot speak elo-
quent. She prospered their works in the Hand of the
Holy Prophet.^
When once the Divine Light is loosened in life,
everything is prospered as long as her Rule is observed ;
for the understanding then bears its motive energy
into eifect. — And the Word of the Lord is unto them
Line upon line. Precept upon pjxcept, (purifying and
perfecting) here a little and there a little.'^ The whole
individual is occupied ; every look and action is by
1 Wisdom of Solomon, xxi. ^ Isaiah, xxviii. ] 3.
504 Hermetic Practice.
rule and with power ; as is it not likewise w^ritten,
The Hands of the Wise are very heavy 1 The right
hand of the Lord bringeth mighty things to pass. —
And His brightness w^as as the light, says Habbakuk,
and he had horns coming out of his hand, and there ivas
the hiding of his power. ^ Is it not promised, more-
over, that the horn of the righteous shall be exalted,
and his seed made triumphant over many nations?
Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a
crown of life.^ And again of Wisdom, — Length of days
is in her right hand, and in her left riches and honour.
Exalt her and she shall promote thee, she shall bring
thee to honour when thou dost embrace her, she shall
give to thy head an Ornament of Grace, a Crowai of
Gloiy shall she deliver unto thee.^
Nor are these the only passages in Scripture where
with Wisdom a promise is given of more material
fruits : —
He that hath an ear to hear, let him hear what the
Spirit saith unto the Churches :
To him that overcometh wall 1 give to eat of the Tree
of Life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of
God.
To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden
Manna, and will give him a White Stone, and in the
Stone a new name wa'itten, which no man knoweth
saving he that receiveth it.
And he that overcometh and keepeth my works unto
the end, to him will I give power over the nations ;
and he shall rule them with a rod of iron ; as the
vessels of a potter shall they be broken in shivers
even as I received from my Father. And T will give
him the Morning Star.
He that overcometh the same shall be clothed in White
Raiment. And I wall not blot out his name out of
the Book of Life. Behold I come quickly : hold fast
that which thou hast that no man take thy Crown.
^ Habbakuk, iii. 4.
'^ Revelations, ii. 10.
^ Proverbs, viii.
Rewards and Potencies. 505
Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the Temple
of my God, and he shall no more go out : and I will
write upon him the name of my God,^which is New a a^rx^ -,^-
Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from Tujt-r*^^ (fiAt
my God : and I will write upon him my New Name, ^f ^^^ oL-yj^x^
Behold I stand at the door and knock, and if any man C u^ ^
hear my voice and open the door I will come in with ^
him, and sup with him, and he with me.
And to him that overcometh will I grant to sit with
me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am
set down with my father in his throne.
He that hath an ear to hear let him hear what the
Spirit saith unto the Churches.^
But as Agrippa says, Clausum est Armarium — the
Scripture is obscure and mystical throughout ; even in
the simplest details most profound, but significant in
its promises even of material blessings and gifts. For
when we begin to love the Spirit, adds the disciple,
then he sends us these things as tokens and pledges of
his love, to whom all hearts are open, all desires
known, and from whom no secrets are hid ; whose
prolific virtue is the source of all things, and in the
conscious aUiance becoming known, potentialises the
whole in each individual universally without reserve.^
That was the ground of ancient doctrine, the founda-
tion of those creeds in the shadowy tradition of which
mankind now live. They are all plain to him that
hath understanding, as Solomon says, and right to
them that find knowledge. Behold instruction is
better than silver, and knowledge than choice gold.
Wisdom is better than rubies, and all the things that
may be desired are not to be compared to Her. I,
Wisdom, dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge
of witty inventions. Counsel is mine and sound
Wisdom ; I am Understanding ; I have strength.
Riches and honour are with me, yea, durable riches
and righteousness. My fruit is better than gold ; and
' Kevelation St. John, ii. iii.
506 Hermetic Practice.
my revenue than choice silver. I love them that love
me, and those that seek me early shall find me.^
They, then, who have been fortunate enough to
perfect this work, having received so much grace from
the Father of Lights as to obtain this inestimable gift
of Divine Wisdom, what more on earth should they
desire, but that it may be always applied aright in
obedience to the Divine Will, for the benefaction of
mankind and vindication of true virtue ? For not
only were they exempt from human ills, having the
means of abundant wealth, power, and health at their
command, but, moreover, they had a manifest token
of divine favour, and sure promise of immortality in a
life to come. Nor is it to be wondered, therefore,
why philosophers, when they have obtained this medi-
cine, have not cared to lengthen their days, or make a
vain parade of their riches to the world which they
despised, with every temporal power and advantage,
in comparison of that which, in the acquirement of
these things, was by their art foreshown. Or who now
having human perfectibility, and a prospect of a happy
immortality set before them in a plain physical type and
experience, would rest in a mere metalline good, like
Midas, who, preferring an earth-born harmony to the
music of the spheres, was dishonoured by the god,
and bore evidence of his misfortune in sight of the
whole world ?
Many prophecies there are of times to come, and
those days are even said to be at hand, when the
Fourth Monarchy, which is the Intellectual reign of
Truth and Peace, shall predominate, when the Mo-
ther of sciences will come forth, and greater things
be discovered than have been hitherto in the past
monarchies of the world. But we do not tarry about
these matters ; the revelation of all things is always
at hand for him who knows how to investigate, and
the rest will be always far behind. If truly there
be minds prepared, or if the great era approaches
more rapidly than is given us yet even in faith to
2 Proverbs, chap. viii.
Rewards and Potencies. 507
foresee (for notwithstanding so many signs that are
appearing, and signal rumours of a coming change, yet
they are fewer and far between and more rare yearly
which indicate the progression of Truth) ; but if, we
say, a better age is approaching, which at some period
of time must come, when abundance of all things
by an equitable distribution of all, shall help to
break down the competitive barrier of society, and
introduce a co-operative alliance amongst mankind,
then this incentive to inquiry may not be inoppor-
tunely ojEFered, to advance the foremost intellect, and
fix its dominion in the self-discovery of truth.
At the present time, when all are more or less
eagerly engaged in the pursuance of external advan-
tages, and under penalty of being cast into the fiery
fiurnace of the world's scorn, do fall down and wor-
ship that earth-born goddess of temporal Utility, which
opinion has set up, it would be vain enthusiasm to
attempt to divert attention, but for a moment, from
so favoured an idol, were it not that in the minds of
all, even its most degraded votaries, there exists a
most real and bitter sense of its insufficiency and la-
tent deformity ; everywhere without, the evil is ap-
parent, and presses closer as time speeds on, fatally
accelerating as if it neared some attracting focus.
Yet hope still lingers in expectation ; and, with that
abiding patience which is the test of faith in a good
cause, may we continue to seek on, not vaguely
around us for passing excitements, but with steady
perseverance looking within, until Conscience reveal
to us those higher objects of pursuit, and truer attrac-
tions, which will not suffer the mind aspiring to them
to fall into dishonour ; but purifying and corroborating
as they draw, will, when at length they are w^orthily
won, unite with and transmute their worshipper into
that Harmony and Beauty, which, in the dim be-
holding, he venerated and loved.
" Begin to-day, nor end till evil sink
In its due grave ; and if at once we may not
508 Hermetic Practice.
Declare the gi-eatiiess of the work we plnn,
Be sure at least that ever in our mind
It stand complete before us, as a dome
Of light beyond this gloom, a house of stars
Encompassing these dusky tents ; a thing
Absolute, close to all, though seldom seen,
Near as our Hearts and perfect as the Heavens.
Be this our aim and model, and our Hands
Shall not wax faint until the work is done."
The Idea of the Good, the Pure, and the True is
the alluring object which we all innerly worship — the
progeny of Divine Intellect, immortal and strong —
even Moral Beauty which, though obscurely now, as
through the mists of sense and selfishness, ever shines
attractively — our Polar Star.
" When from the lips of Truth one mighty breath
Shall like a whirlwind, scatter in its breeze
The whole dark pile of human mockeries.
Then shall the reign of Mind commence on earth,
And starting fresh, as from a second birth,
Man, in the sunshine of the AV^orld's new Spring,
Shall walk transparent like some holy thing."
Having discussed thus much of the Hermetic Mys-
tery, and suggested certain particulars concerning the
Practice at this latter end, which may be unfamiliar to
the reader, we would repeat our warning to beware of
hasty interpretation and trials of skill, without a proper
foundation laid by study of the Hermetic records and
scientific Laws of Art. Many things have no doubt
escaped us inadvertently ; others we have designedly
reserved, lest falling into incapable hands, the highest
trust of Nature should be betrayed, and the w^ay of truth
become perplexed by duphcity in the pursuit. In vain
the ignorant, in vain the avaricious, — the selfish, faith-
less, or frivolous, will in vain seek to percolate this
Mystery. The right-minded and studious alone be-
nevolently, conscientiously, and rationally persisting
to the end, will unravel it: and in this case each must
labour singularly for himself. The success of the
experiment, as we have repeatedly shown, depends
on the discovery of the true Intention. And this
Rewards and Potexcies. 509
being more or less inv^olved in every mind, is not
clearly distinguishable in all ; nor are they many,
therefore, but few only, who have been found to enter
in by the narrow way of life. The talent is granted
only to a few, and for them conditions are needful to
draw it forth to increase ; for them we have written,
and to persuade those only who may be able amidst
so many heterogeneous elements of Nature, to dis-
cern the rational possibility by the infallible touch-
stone of her Original Light.
Tunc mentis divinse homines oracula caeca, ,
Volventes animo ancipiti vix tempore longo, / /
Experti multa, et non parvis sumtibus illAm ' ^^-^/
Invenere artem, qua non ars dignior ulla est,
ringendi Lapidem ^therium, quem scire profanis.
Hand quaquam licet, et frustra plebs improba quserit.
Quem qui habet, ille potest, ubi \'ult habitare decenter :
Nee fortune iram metuit, nee bracbia furum,
Sed tanto paucos dignantui* munere divi.^
Injunctions likewise are frequent respecting the
sacred nature of the ministration, and of the responsi-
bility incurred by those even who are favoured in the
undertaking, lest desiring too little or presuming too
far in self-sufficient pride, it should fall, and Satan
establish a monarchy upon the most holy of works.
Does any smile at the surmise? It is of small ac-
count, so he be ignorant; those warnings do not apply,
nor were ever meant to scare his complacency, who,
without the Light of Reason, would be least of all able
to precipitate its downfall. But lest the desire of
such a one should lead him to practise, w^hich by
good fortune it may not, we advise him of our know-
ledge, and of the vindictive Spirit of Wisdom for the
justification of her Rule — Ne tii augeas fatum — En-
large not thou thy destiny — Neither break a super-
ficies, as the Pythagoric precept runs — lest the sin of
the agent being multiphed in the patient, it should
survive in the unhappy offspring unto the third or
fourth generation. The Spirit of Wisdom runs lov-
^ Palingenius Zodiacus Yit^e, Theat. Cheni. 2, p. 87.
510 Hermetic Practice.
ingly by her own Rule to fulfil it ; but leaves him to
hopeless confusion who abandons the Divine purpose
for the accomplishment of private ends.
So the Israelites, that so wonderfully stiff-necked
race, suffered for their rebellion and selfish lusts ;
falling into a multitude of snares and misfortunes —
by fire, famine, and sword, and no less miserable capti-
vity, by the Divine command. And that those errors
might be guarded against, and that no presumption
might thereafter arise, the Lawgiver, in his book of
Deuteronomy , instructs them to be grateful, humble,
and mindful, throughout the passage, of past be-
nefits received, nor ever to murmur at the decrees
of God.
— But thou shalt consider in thy heart, he says, that
as a man chasteneth his son, so the Lord thy God
chasteneth thee. Therefore thou shalt keep the com-
mandments of the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways,
and to fear him. For the Lord thy God bringeth
thee into a Good Land ; a land of brooks of w^ater, of
fountains, and depths that spring out of valleys and
hills ; and of wdieat, and barley, and vines, and fig-
trees, and pomegranates ; aland of oil-olive, and honey ;
a land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarce-
ness, thou shalt not lack anj'thing in it ; a land whose
stones are iron, and out of wdiose hills thou mayest
dig brass. And when thou hast eaten and art full, then
thou shalt bless the Lord thy God for the good land which
he hath given thee. Beware that thou forget not the
Lord thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and
judgments, and statutes : lest, when thou hast eaten
and art full, and hast built goodly houses and dwelt
therein ; and wdien thy herds and thy flocks multiply,
and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that
thou hast is multiplied : then thy heart be lifted up,
and thou forget the Lord thy God, which brought
thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of
bondage : who led thee through that great and terrible
wilderness, wherein w^ere fiery serpents, and scorpions,
and drought, where there was no water ; wdio brought
Rewards and Potencies. 511
thee forth water out of the rock of flint. Who fed
thee ill the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers
knew not ; that He might humble thee, and that He
might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end :
and lest thou say in thine heart My Power and the
might of Mine Hand hath gotten me this wealth. But
thou shalt remember the Lord thy God ; for it is He
that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may
establish his covenant which He sware unto thy fa-
thers, as it is this day. And it shall be, if thou do at
all forget the Lord thy God and walk after other gods,
and serve them and worship them, I testify against you
this day that ye shall surely perish.^
For immortality is only to be consummated in
union, and in the abandonment of the dual selfhood
and its volition to the Divine Will. Wherefore I ab-
hor myself, cries Job, (when all else being deprived he
renounced himself,) and repent in dust and ashes. —
Look on every one that is proud and abase him, and
tread down the wicked in their place. Hide them in the
dust together, and bind their faces in secret. — Then
will i also confess unto thee that thine own
Right Hand can save thee.^
That was the path and promise to blameless souls
which the wise men and prophets constantly pursued,
passing through every ordained disciphne, ordeal rite,
and humiliation, in order that they might become con-
formable to the Divine Perfection they desired to
approach. Once delivered from the exterior bondages
of sense and heterogeneous desire, from the passions
and false affections of this transitory life, the final step
is declared comparatively easy ; as transcending by the
energy of faith, from the separable selfhood, the
Identity passes into universal accord. — To go forth
and to return ; therefore was the agreement cut
off — so says the Cabal — Close thy eyes and meditate :
1 Deuteronomy viii. from ver. 10.
'^ Job xl. 12, &c. xlii.
512 Hermetic Practice.
and if thy heart fail thee, return again ; since therefore
it is written,
Egeedeee et eegeedeee, et peopteeea pactum
pk.ecisum est.'
This is the work — this the Hermetic method and its
end : The line returns to form a circle into its be-
ginning, and they join not in time, for their union is
Eternity. This, reader, is the true Christian Philoso-
pher's Stone, which, if it be a chimera, then is the
universe itself not stable, of which it has been proven
to be the most exact epitome, having passed the test
of experimental reason not only, but, analyzed to the
last extremity of contrite conscience, is confirmed in
operation, visibility, and luminous increase, when
rising in rational supremacy over sense and finite re-
flection, the Ethereal Hypostasis revolves in its First
Cause.
' Zepliir Jezirah, cap. i.
513
CHAPTER IV.
The Conclusion.
IT has been our endeavour, as clearly as the limits
prescribed by evidence and our understanding
would enable us, to discuss the ground and practical
pretensions in general of the Hermetic Mystery. To
explain all would require an extensive range and a
closer opportunity of experience than has been hitherto
granted us. Nor with these auxiliaries, perhaps, should
we become more intelligible, since caution very usually
increases with observation, and the truth has been so
intricately, arbitrarily, and in many folds enveloped,
and the cloud of witnesses is such that it might
puzzle Apollo himself to explicate the whole Enigma
intelhgibly to the w^orld. To induce research, there-
fore, we pretend only to have signalized the Light,
that any one fortunately perceiving, might be led along
by its attracting presence to the discovery of Truth.
Evidence has constantly preceded, neither have we
ventured many assertions of our own ; but the repu-
table witness of individuals of various ages and nations,
whose names are renowned in philosophy, have been
gathered together in aid of this Inquir}'', and in sup-
port of the dignity of the Hermetic Science ; which
they have not only judged to be true, but many add
their personal experience in confirmation, attesting the
reality of the Philosopher's Stone.
The confection of this miraculous substance, more-
over, they have helped us to trace in theory from its
foundation in the free Ether, through an artificial pro-
cess of elaboration, into manifest effect. And the
principle of Transmutation, they have shown to be re-
lating not to Species but to their Universal Subject,
whose concentrated virtue the Stone likewise itself is.
L L
514 Conclusion.
And Man was the proper laboratory of the whole Art;
not only the most perfect chemical apparatus, devised
by Nature for the distillation of her Spirit, but having
besides the whole fermentative virtue, motive, and
principle of vital melioration and every requisite com-
plete within himself, for the rectification and further-
ance of her prescribed Law ; mind and manual efficacy,
as it is narrated, by the Divine Will, to effect all things,
though concealed in this life by the external attraction
and obstructive energies of sense.
This hidden capacity it has been shown to be
the purpose of the Hermetic artifice to explore ; and
that adepts well-skilled, as they profess, in the vital
analysis of bodies, by such means discovered the life of
man therein circulating to be a pure fire incorporated
in a certain incombustible ethereal vapour ; also, that
the Universal Efficient was in this fire, and the diverse
kingdoms of nature, as it were, bound together in the
threefold enchantment of his natural Identity ; one of
which only, the animal life, being developed to con-
sciousness, the other two, viz, the vegetable and mine-
ral, are known only to those who have entered experi-
mentally within to prove the hypostatic action and
passion of the working essences in life.
Partly, also, on the authority of the Ancients,
coupled with certain other arguments, not altogether
speculative, we have been thence led to regard the
Mysteries celebrated at Eleusis and the rest, in a more
important light than heretofore; not as mere external
ceremonials, pictured scenes of sufferings and beati-
tudes, but as real inductions of the Understanding
Spirit to its Source.
And with the development of these Mysteries we have
been enabled to connect Alchemy ; and with these both,
in their preliminary practice, the modern art, called Mes-
merism, strikingly accords ; which we have proposed
suggestively, therefore, as a first key opening to the
vestibule of this Experiment, where sits the Sphinx
with her eternal enigma, still to perplex intruders, and
open to philosophers only the inner halls of Light.
Conclusion. 515
Bearing these things in mind, by the assistance of
the Greek Ontologists, we have ventured, intimately
pursuing their course, to follow mysterious Nature
through many intricate windings and circumstantial
difficulties, into her Initial Source; and there observed
her, after operating voluntarily about her own annihi-
lation, to survive and establish a stable monarchy upon
her redeemed Light.
Particulars, also, of the metaphysical experience we
have attempted to delineate, and to show the catho-
licity and causal reference of the Hermetic Work
throughout.
From impediments likewise described, and rare in-
tellectual conditions, it has been shown why the Divine
Experiment has been so seldom attempted and more
rarely brought to a legitimate conclusion on this earth.
And why philosophers, in all ages, considering the
unfitness of the multitude, and fearful consequences
that might ensue from individual abuse, have con-
cealed their knowledge, communicating almost by word
of mouth only the practical device.
If we have been freer in our expositions, the spirit
was not the more reckless, but because the thresholds
of ignorance are already overpast, and experiment is in
need rather of a motive to dignify it than^practical
machinery. What if the darkness should contend with
and prevail awhile, yet there in the centre the light
will kindle and increase, and gain strength to radiate
upwards through the whole circumference, despite of
every effort of ignorant selfishness and folly to prevent.
So reason instructs that we should have faith in hu-
manity as in the ultimate realization and prevalence
of good. But tiiey are all now incredulous who were
formerly dreaded in their belief; and under that safe
guardianship we leave them, happily supine in the
conviction that our conduct will neither be attractive
or intelhgible, much less practically useful to the pro-
fane multitude of mankind. For although this Art of
Alchemy is eminently experimental and practical in
its consequences, vet it is wholly unsuited to minds
L L 2
7^^^?^
516 Conclusion.
commonly so styled practical, who are impatient of
every proposition that is not immediately applicable to
the affairs of life. For these the Hermetic Art is no
more suited than they for it ; it needs a philosopher,
one of the antique mould, a true lover of Wisdom,
who, for her sake, will devote everything else, stu-
dious, simple, ardent, and withal suscipient of appear-
ing truth.
They who in a kindred spirit have ])ursued this
Inquiry, may have divined many things which will be
hidden from the indifferent and thoughtless reader ;
for we have spoken of principles with reference to
practice, and in an order indirectly indicative of the
genealogical method of ascent ; even that artistic fa-
brication of the Fire which Prometheus received from
Vulcan, and Minerva disseminated providentially for
the sake of her luminous radix, lest it should be smoth-
ered in our iiTational alliance, and perish ungratefully
without return.
In the course of this vital experiment the ancients
discovered the whole of the philosophy they teach,
the quintessence of Universal Nature and her fruitful
springs : by this pyrotechnical induction, powers were
/ , revealed to conscience, the whole generative original
/ -t/e, / ^^^ those temptations whieh^Reason alone, purified and
/ / singled out by Art for the encounter, is able entirely to
withstand.
And that ray of motive Light, pure, vital, and
efficient, we have shown to be the true Form of Gold,
the alone universal principle of increase and perfection,
the same which in the circulatory system, becoming
dominant, is made concrete in life; and is the trans-
mutative ferment — even the Philosophic Stone.
And this is the grand Hermetic secret, that there is
a Universal Subject in nature, and that Subject is sus-
ceptible of nourishment in Man ; and this is the
greatest Mystery, of all mysteries the most wonderful,
'}ur{~(nJ^i ^^^^ ^^^ should be able to find the Divine Nature not
// ftaiy, but to effect It.
The philosophers sought after Wisdom for her own
sake; for her beauty and bright divinity they wooed her,
Conclusion. 517
and gained with her an ample dowry, gold, silver, and
the glittering treasures of her creative light in abund-
ance. And some have dwelt gratefully on these inter-
mediate benefits, recording them, but were, above all,
careful to celebrate the primary attraction which led
them in for the discovery of life. And we have omitted
many things, which, to the many, might be more
attractive, even than gold or silver, or a more remote
prospect of immortality ; for every desire is, in the
magic region, made prolific, embodying itself, by the
ethereal conception, as a principle to enact its volun-
tary accord. But to allure by particular promises,
however rich or real, which might restrict to individual
interests a virtue which is infinite, forms no part of
our design ; man is sufficiently bounded already in
all — how many ways is he not fettered, by the poverty
of his imagination and the littleness of his love ?
Having then run cursorily through the circuit of the
Hermetic Tradition, without attempting, however, to
include the whole length, which would embrace a far
wider field of philosophical inquiry than is commonly
imagined, it may be proper, in conclusion, to consider the
several bearings of the same with respect to other sci-
ences, and their comparative value to mankind at large.
Between the Physical and Moral sciences, com-
monly so called, though there are links found indi-
cative of a radical relationship, yet each are through-
out their departments divergent, and the class of mind
usually occupied by either is distinct. The former,
based externally, having the senses for chief evidence,
makes practical utility its end and only value; whilst
the latter, having its evidence and object alike within
the mind, attaches less consequence to worldly bene-
fits, misprising the lights of sense also as inferior and
comparatively insecure. And thus Philosophy stands
divulsed at this day, the Spiritual unable to prove
itself absolutely, or the Material to disprove the other
practically ; they accordingly maintain on either side a
negative, though relatively assured, ground. Bat the
^
518 Conclusion.
Hermetic Science, supposing this indeed to be well
founded, would include both in the ample compass of
its experiment, as passing from either extreme of Mind
and Matter, to prove them, it arrives at the Catholic
Effect of Life. And here the external and internal
worlds are said to blend together in confluent har-
mony, establishing each other, and leaving reason no-
thing more to doubt or the senses to desire, but a ftil-
filment under the Law.
,1 jj2. If then, in contrariety to every popular prejudice,
^jr<v-^ ^ I and on the lonly^.eyidence,J of defunct philosophers, we
can yet imagine this Art of Alchemy to be real, and an
experimental foundation of science, notwithstanding
all the learned cavils and clamours of disappointed
chemists that have been raised against it ; — if it be true
that there is a Subtle Nature pervading the universe,
which is the All in every thing and susceptible of arti-
ficial alteration through all ; and if man by his especial
prerogative of Reason and rectitude of purpose is able,
by a development of these, to advance and bear the
life within him through dissolution into a new birth,
superior to nature and beyond the reach of elementary
discord to destroy ; and if all this has been accom-
plished, passed through in the conscious experience,
and proved demonstratively in facts, visible deeds, and
effects; then, these things supposed, and experience
being the admitted test of philosophy, will it not fol-
low that theirs was the right and true philosophy,
which at the vertex of a double ignorance has been
forgotten and despised ?
For the experience of intellect would, under the sup-
position, be esteemed pre-eminently above that of sense,
inasmuch as the one revelation is naturally supei'ior
and acknowledged, even in this life, before the other ;
and that kind of evidence would be necessarily pre-
ferred by all which is universally inclusive and leading
out from the Causal Fountain into natural effect. But
by no reason that comes from sense will such an evi-
dence be obtained, nor shall we ever learn, without
Identic co-operation, how Nature works, or by what oc-
Conclusion, 519
cult virtue the grain of wheat is even instigated, so
that it grows and bears its abundant increase upon
earth. All our knowledge without the experience is
empirical, the result only of observation of remote
effects. And therefore Alchemy has been declared to
be the only true glass of the mind, which shows how
to enter, and to touch, and to discover the Truth in
her own simplicity and univocal demonstration. Nei-
ther does it therefore bring so many arguments, as
might be, to prove itself, since the evidence is self-
sufficient, and without itself cannot, however truly
imaginable, be known. Such a demonstration would
stand above all common-sense conclusions, above ima-
gination, above opinion, and all logical proof, which
is barren without self-knowledge, and isolated and ^^^JjxA-.y^
erring upon the plane of Truth. /
Yet this^is the only guide we now can boast of, ^■^/rfuaocM j_
which, if stable in its own criterion, yet being de- J^i^j^^c^tty
pendent on externals for matter and practical pur-
suit, fluctuates, and hence many evils arise and those
diversities of opinion which distract mankind. The
world, so imperfectly ruled, has instituted a sort of
free-will standard of its own ; men will believe as
they like, see or not see, assume as suits their
convenience, or reject their own criterion at plea-
sure, even the testimony of their own highly esteemed
sober senses ^ when these do not tally with their pre-
conceived prejudices, interests, or hopes. But it is
evident, irrespective of all particular objections, that
true science does not consist in the exhibition of phe-
nomena, neither can anything short of the Causal Dis-
covery fulfil the Idea of Truth. The doubt would not
rest therefore about the superiority of Causal science,
if it were possible, but whether it be truly possible or
not. If the philosophy of the Ancients is without a
true foundation, if there is not any other essence of
things besides that which is apparent and has a sensi-
ble subsistence, then the Physical will indisputably be
the first and only science ; but if otherwise there is
proved to be a certain immutable Being of all, pre-
520 Conclusion.
existent to sensibles, which can be proven in intellect
and confirmed in sensible phenomena, as the Al-
chemists and Greek metaphysicians assert, then this
will be prior, sm'er, and the best philosophy.
To those in whom the spirit of observ^ation has been
wholly drawn to externals, it may have seemed a ridi-
culous thing to speak of life and intellect indepen-
dently, as apart from their manifest operations ; still
more so to enter on specific idioms and modes of spi-
ritual subsistence, seeing- we have no tangible proof
calculated by any means to satisfy the searchers of ex-
act science ; that as life is nowhere seen apart from
organization, or moral consciousness from either,
they are phenomena little likely to be discovered
apart or practically understood. — Against such an opi-
nion we have no present demonstration to offer ; our
own assertion w^ould add nothing to the authorities
already cited ; inquiry is the only antidote of ra-
tional scepticism. For this we have laboured to sup-
ply means ; and the natural subsistence of Universals
in the human mind may afford a ground of probability
wdience to proceed into their proof. That we are de-
prived of the power of apprehending the ancient doc-
trine of internal Wisdom is no proof that it is untrue ;
there is a strongly enchanted fortress about it, whose
forces yield not either to impertinent curiosity or the
peremptory demands of sense. Nor can all the ne-
gativ^e evidence of sensual certainty in array disprove,
or for an instant nullify, assertions which belong to
another Experience and another probability of Art and
Nature.
But, will it be objected, that which has never been
in our thought, things so far above us, are nothing
to us? Truly, if beyond our possible attainment,
they would be indifferent; but benefits are not the
less real because unexpected, or promises to be cast
away because the means of fulfilment are not im-
mediately discernable. The evils of this life are mani-
fold, and a prospect of escape, or melioration even,
will not be obnoxious to those who are fortunately
Conclusion. 521
able to perceive it. Neitiier let it be supposed, that
because the Wisdom of the ancients transcends, that it
by any means contradicts human reason, but quite
otherwise ; that was, in truth, the basis of their philo-
sophy, which is with us the boundary and summit of
our knowledge. That Faith alone, indeed of all else,
remains to us in common — in that we are, we have a
witness which believes and infers, a reality beyond
present experience ; and hence it is in vain that meta-
physicians, inductively arguing, have sometimes en-
deavoured to reduce the Idea of Cause to mere ante-
cedence or juxta-position in time. The instinct of
human nature is constantly opposed to them, and be-
lieves, heedless of all doubt and difficult discussion.
For Power is latent everywhere, and we feel it in the
shadow, and recognize its presence spontaneously in
every action of life. Striking upon this Faith therefore,
in default of its true object, and taking to witness
some of the closer records of transcendental experience,
we have hoped to awaken the imaginative centres to
such an accord as might stir Reason from her long le-
thargy to seek for genuine reminiscence in her root
of Light.
" Thougli from our birth the faculty divine
Is chained and tortured, cabin' d, cribb'd, confin'd,
And bred in darkness, lest the light should shine
Too brightly on the uninstructed inind,
The beams pour in, and truth and skill may couch the blind."
Were it not that the ancients acknowledge and uni-
formly insist on the use of means for removing the bar-
riers by which the Divine Light is here held in thraldom,
we might more consistently despair of their Wisdom ;
but it was avowedly a thing acquired, the reward only
of peculiar and arduous discipline ; not such as mere
school logic or the mathematics now afford, but as dif-
ferent and far above as was the promise and ultimate
aim. No modern institutions, either secular or re-
ligious, furnish anything analogous, no effectual
means of moral elevation, no rites of purifying or
awakening efficacy to the mind. We plant and in-
522 Conclusion.
crease knowledge, and give precepts and devise ex-
amples, and draw forth the observing faculties to their
superficial contentment ; but all our circumstantial
labours do not rectify the mind, or turn the inbred
inclination out of life. Circumstances indeed do mo-
dify, and, according as they are well or ill devised,
improve or deteriorate the habitual character of man-
kind ; but they do not recreate ; no power that is not
vital can touch the evil that is inbred, or even discover
it truly without introspective proof That which
generation binds dissolution only can unloose — the evil
must be met by its proper antidote, overcoming dark-
ness by Light in the hypostatical alliance ; every ac-
cessory means of melioration will be preparative to
this, which restores the human mind to integrity and
universal science.
Man has never been observed to advance himself
individually through adventitious acquirements ; but,
on the contrary, the increase of luxury, to which
thought is now applied, enervates the moral character,
fosters selfishness by competition, fraud, and emulous
hate. Institutions, framed by the same defective pat-
tern, multiply the evil, as every advance we make in
externals leads us further off from the First Source.
And until Wisdom shall have effected that individual
reformation, which above all things we now need, it is
vain to look in externals for a perfection and feficity
which have not been imaged there. We may alter, and
improve, and educate, and prepare the way with ad-
vantage ; but the notion will be variable, and every
plan defective without the Exemplary Light.
But some one still considers the discovery impossi-
ble, or, if possible, yet that this Wisdom is too diffi-
cult perhaps in the pursuit? To the former objection,
supposing it to be inveterate, we oppose nothing,
having nowhere undertaken to convince, but only to
promote investigation. Incredulity is the strongest
barrier of possibilities over the world, no doubt wisely
provided to prevent a too rapid movement of mind
into practice, before it is well prepared and disposed to
Conclusion. 523
the pursuit of truth. With respect to the difficulties
of the pursuit, we have nowhere denied them, or
that they are insuperable to the common herd of man-
kind. Without an earnest desire of discovery, the
liveliest faith will be frustrated, and labour will be vain
unless reason give direction to the persuasion of
faith. But how hardly can these either subsist with-
out the other ? since faith is the very attracting load-
stone which hope pursues, and desire and reason, and
the whole willing armament of Mind, to which, in her
allied forces, nothing is impossible ; or what apparition
of difficulties would deter conviction steeled to the
purpose of her Motive Light ?
Or does any one, persisting to calumniate this Philo-
sophy, say it threatens to sacrifice important temporal
interests for the sake of visionary and remote gains ?
Such objections however will not be rational, but
spring out of the baser affections of humanity and
short-sighted sense. The eye is not satisfied with see-
ing, nor is the ear filled with hearing, nor does any
transitory good suffice to human desire ; above all,
there is no selfish object worthy the pursuit of In-
tellect ; nor is any worldly recompense found corre-
sponding to its need. But the proper object of the
rational faculty is in its Source, which lies profoundly
buried in this life of sense. And this it is the province
of the Hermetic Artifice to resuscitate and bring
through self-knowledge into the experience of life. For
this same Root of Reason is Wisdom, and that saving
Salt which philosophers were wont anciently to exca-
vate and by so many circulating media to exalt. The
diadem of Wisdom is ulu buuiti with this Stone,
which, as a halo or crown of light, the regenerate soul
puts on as a new body, wherein it can rule over the
elementary world and pass through it, overcoming evil
and falsehood, and ignorance and death.
To the faculty of Reason, therefore, nothing is more
attractive than this philosophy, which immortalizes it ;
yet, will it be argued, there are other faculties of the
human mind equally real, if not as important, and
524 Conclusion.
which ought not to be despised? Neither, we reply,
is any faculty of the soul repudiated in that supernal
alliance ; but all are present together in obedience to
their rightful rule and habitude ; or if any one is re-
fractory during the passage, it is the occasion of suf-
fering to the better natures, which are all engaged
voluntarily in the restitution of their King. But if
they all must be sacrificed for the sake of him who is
their source, would not this be expedient, rather than
that he should continue in an illegitimate thraldom
under all? Such is not the ultimate necessity of the
case however ; for the bn'thren all are renewed to-
gether with him, and every dignified sentiment is set
in accord, to testify and maintain the triumphant Mo-
narchy of Light.
And what more alluring to a cultivated Imagination
than this pursuit, which abounds in ideality and the
beautiful symbolism of universal truth, which discovers
the occult springs of Classic inspiration, tradition, my-
thology, fable, and every graceful remain?
And will not Veneration, too, be intimately invited
by the prospect of its own antique worshipful Idea —
there where, in the presence of Divinity, true awe is
felt, and man discovers and knows the perfect good-
ness, which profanely without the temple's veil he
cannot, or unless the understanding is absolutely con-
joined?
And are not Hope and Benevolence interested in
this research, and Justice longing for an equilibrium,
uXJi^xA-U^ ^^^^ Self-respect and Kuty, and every honourable mo-
/ tive herein allied ? And to know the First Truth of
things really and experimentally, and to revolve the
Causal Light in permanence of intellection, is not this
the highest privilege that man may propose to himself?
And when we are told that all things are added to that
felicity, that the springs of Universal Nature, with her
growth and fruits, are at our delegate disposal, if we
can believe, what else is worthy our whole desire ?
And what kind of science, supposing it real, would
be so conclusive as this, which exhibits all things in
Conclusion. 525
their constructive Causes, such as no other science
does, or other conviction can do, but that only
which, Identically penetrating, enters into the Whole
of Existence ?
Let no one therefore conceive that this philosophy
is unattractive, which has occupied the best faculties
of the best minds, and at the tnp'^'^^^ summit of their
capacity. Nor are the rewards so remote, either as in-
dolence and adverse inclination may cause them to ap-
pear. But if inferior interests should yet complain, as
in danger of their present dominion, and pride or
avarice, or ambition or ignorance, accustomed to rule
in this life, should disdain the subaltern station which
the Di\dne Law assigns to them, let not one enlist or
be drawn by promises, however alluring, lest they be
deceived and swallowed up in the gulph of their own
overwhelming delusion. As who would wish it should
be otherwise, unless it were to generate evil by the
viperous progeny of self-love ?
Should it be considered, on the other hand, that the
research of Causes is altogether impious, and above
the destined capacity of man, and vain, since, as Job
says, no one by searching can Jind out the Almighty
to perfection — we would observe, with respect to this
last assertion, that it is easily explicable ; for though
it is eminently true that man, searching in his own
will alone, is incompetent to the Divine Discovery,
yet, by conditionating, in obedience to the Divine Will,
he comes into the integral alliance and power —
Knock and it shall be opened unto you, ask and ye shall
receive, that your joy may befall.
With respect to the charge of impiety, should this
persist, the evil is inherent in the preposterous idea ;
nor can we be at the pains just now to vindicate the
most sacred science from such an aspersion ; but re-
commend those who really think in this way, with the
rest already warned off, to desist from inquiry, nor
give heed to the subject as long as the fatal suggestion
lurks ; lest it should become manifested forth in some
practical form of pusillanimity, or faithless attempt to
interrogate the profundity it fears. There is nothing
526 Conclusion. ^,
impure, or of itself impious, mnnli ]nni Wm* Art of Wis-
dom, long distinguished as holy. But to him that
esteems a thing unclean, as St. Paul says, it is un-
clean, for the thought will defile it. Honi soit qui
MAL Y PENSE. Let not this good then be evil spoken
of. All things are iiideed pure ; but it is evil for
that man ivho eateth the bread of life ivith offence. —
The Art of Alchemy is of all Arts thQrofoi'c distin-
guished as holy, since it has been piously occupied,
and aided the most devout minds, in times past, to the
attainment of their common end. Not that we would
insinuate that human salvation is dependent on a
mere art — far otherwise ; the Divine Will operates its
fulfilment alone ; but the Art is said to be a remedy of
imperfect souls, and offers the means of assimilation :
whether a knowledge of these means is absolutely neces-
sary, we dare not take on ourselves to determine — the
power of God is infinite ; but Adepts declare that He
has always revealed them to his elected children.
If doubt yet further should arise about this Wisdom ;
seeing she did not reveal herself in common arts and
the discoveries of human invention ; it may be plainly
observed that such particulars are foreign to the Di-
vine purpose, they are foolishness to her ; she teaches
an Art which supersedes all these and comprehends
every liberal science in sublime freedom of intellection
and every subordinate discovery in her revealed accord.
Yet who will now believe ?
It is by the searching and proving of His own Iden-
tity, no otherwise, that man can arrive at the assur-
ance of this Wisdom, which is above science, art, and
every other kind of faith ; which includes all know-
ledges, arts, and every particular which the inquiring
Spirit seeks within itself. This is that Well of Hera-
clitus in which the Truth yet lies profoundly hidden ;
whence also those philosophic tears. This is that
Nothing which Socrates knew, on account of which
the oracle pronounced him to be the wisest of man-
kind ; which Democritus, beholding, laughed at other
things : it was this which warned Friar Bacon from
Conclusion. 527
the error of his ways, and convicted Agrippa of the
vanity and confusion of his youth, when at length in
his manhood he came to know^ that to know No-
thing was the most happy Hfe. For he who in such
w^ise knows Nothing — no one apostate particular — has
the All, and, being composed of the whole, he is able
to discern, to make, and to effect the whole ; but falling
off from this, in becoming dividual, he ceases to be
the Universe : returning again, however, into the Uni-
versal and abandoning the selfhood, he raises himself
on high, and governs the world.
And when we consider the highly elevated philo-
sophy of the Platonic successors ; the profound yet j /) ^
simple metaphysics of the Hebrew €aifti, as it has /Oi/t^xOZ^
been partially transmitted, with a persuasion of reality
unequalled in modern language ; the soul-stirring
syllables of the Hermetic and Chaldaic Fragments ; the
refined enthusiasm of the Middle Age Adeptists ; and
all these and many more separately agreeing in the same
divine tradition ; and, added to these all, the Christian
doctrine of fulfilment in the Gospel ; we cannot but feel
regret, mingling with the satisfaction these things might
otherwise afford, that so early and great a promise of
the human mind should have been bhghted, not only,
but forgotten almost in the w^orld. Or can w^e recall such
hghts without reflection, and incuriously believe that
knowledge w^as once granted to man by revelation, but
has since, we cannot tell why, passed away for ever ?
Are we the children of a second fall, or what spell
holds us that w^e no longer aspire even to understand
the language of our Fathers, or desire to pass into the
life of those elder times, when Man, not yet always the
poor servant and interpreter of Nature, moved under
his God, her Lord and Master? Are we not all born / /
of one generation, in the same surrounding world ; ^be- "T^fez
identical sun now enlightening us as formerly shone
upon the bards and hallowed sages of Asia Minor?
Yet, whilst they so many centuries ago bear testimony
to a knowledge of their Creator and his intimate
works, we continue still in uncertainty, blind and
528 Conclusion.
baffled everywhere about the beguilements of sense.
No longer careful for ourselves, life is wasted on ex-
ternals, which, always ungrateful, yield new burdens
and perplexities in proportion as they increase. The-
oretic science is everywhere condemned ; but there is
no such thing at this day ; since, with all her extolled
artifice, array of disciplines and powers, the Wisdom
of Antiquity has disappeared from amongst men.
And to what are we arrived without her? Even at
the proudest pinnacle of external science, the whole
physical nature explored, and facts of all generations
accumulated together before our eyes, wdiat should w'e
be wdser without the Causal knowledge of these things?
What single advantage have we gained by misprising
the ancients? Those low, literal, spiritless interpre-
tations of poetic fable and philosophy — wdiat satisfac-
tion have they afforded ? Or of what use will they
ever be, but to memorialize our ignorance to future
generations? It is true, they have flattered our self-
complacency for awhile into a belief that former Wis-
dom w^as foohshness, and that men never lived in
reality who wxre more know'ing, religious, and vir-
tuous than ourselves. But then the evil far outlives
the temporary gratulation of those conceits^ which
have stripped the Ideal Standard of all excellency, and
shorn the imagination of its brightest hopes of beauty,
goodness, and immortal truth. All has been swept
away wdth a remorseless hand ; all veneration and faith
in ideality, whilst sense has been the acknowledged
beacon hght, and praotioal utihty the highest good.
Is it not full time to return, wdien things are arrived
at the precipice of self-oblivion, w hen experimental phi-
losophy labours for selfish aggi'andisement, and self is
least of all served in the attempt ; when thought
wastes its eternal substance in the pursuit of time, and
the idea of Truth is mangled in the reckless machinery
of Error ? Has not Lord Bacon himself, the leader of
this exterminating chase, wdiilst endeavouring to super-
sede the bare exercise of logic, and clear the field of
Learning in his Inauguration, recommended the pur-
Conclusion. 529
suit of Causes above every other, and taught, by his
own energetic example, to inquire of the ancients, and
to experiment after their hidden Wisdom, though he
knew it not, but only burned about the lights which
they had bequeatlied ? What more, then, should we
add to exhort, extol, or explicate, having studied to -, /^__
revive these^and relics of the Sacred Art long buried a Uf^-^^
in oblivion ? If their witness is disbeheved, addition
would be useless ; if otherwise, we await the result. —
It would be as impossible in an exposition of this kind
to concihate all tastes, as to draw divergent prejudices
into accord. There is one pleasure of a horse, another
of a dog : a goat differs from either in his natural
choice ; and in man eveiy various inclination is to be
found, and a multifarious understanding in the affairs
of life ; so that those arguments which to some w^ould
be convincing, by others are not discerned, or needed
by many more who are endowed with an instinctive
faith and appreciation. Truths which are grateful to
certain persons are odious to others, according as they
may be constituted or habitually trained. In this In-
quiry, therefore, we have sought to attract those
chiefly to whom such a pursuit would be naturally
pleasing, and such as have been customarily esteemed
worthy of the reward.
With respect to the practical benefits, our hopes,
though not enlarged, are vigorous and of the most
grateful kind ; for those to whom it is addressed the
Light will attract, and to them will not be moderately
useful, if they advance by it to the true end.
That the subject is worthy of inquiry from the
highest order of minds, we repeat our persuasion, and
at the same time entertain a belief that the period is
not far distant when this will be obtained, and the
truth, by these means, be so manifestly presented be-
fore the eyes of all, that contrary prejudices, and
doubts, and false interests, will be merged in the
revelation of power and irresistible fact.
The catholic torch, miraculously kindled, kindles
the Light of Universal Nature, and either exter-
M M
530 Conclusion.
nally or internally, morally or physically, or in all
these ways, according to the application, works
from thence through every part, diffusing energy, life,
and joy, in either of the three kingdoms, as we
have shown, by its voluntary assimilation, increas-
ing and promoting things to their utmost boundary
of strength. But, above all, it rejoices in the Mind
of Man, when, in conscious rectitude of thought
and action, he bears it in comprehensive superiority
elect over the rest — when, including all in the ca-
tholic perceivance of this Reason, he submits his own
omnipotence to the omniscience of its Rule — when
Nature opening up to him the vast resources of her
essence and the mystery of the most wonderful crea-
tion, with every temptation to self-idolatry laid open
to view, oblivious of all else in admiration and love of
so much Wisdom and integral perfection, he co-operates
with the First Cause.
Some may consider we have opened too much,
others too little of a mystery irrelevant to the common
understanding of mankind, and no doubt our conduct
is blameworthy in other respects ; yet those for whon)
we have laboured will not prove ungrateful if they
attain to the end of our proposed discovery. For the
discoveiy of the Causal Nature is doubtless of all parts
of knowledge the worthiest to be sought after, if it be
possible to be found; and, as to the possibility, they
are computed for ill discoverers that think there is no
land because they discern nothing but sea. — Believe
it, then, beyond the turbulent sea of sense, there is a
haven and signal marks to direct where the Promised
Land is to be found. And Life is the nucleus of the
/^ /} whole Hermetic Mystery, and the Key thereof is feitcl-
A-C^/Cc 4ect ; the golden ore of which, likewise, we have lavishly
/ shown. If, however, the Key be wanting, how may we
presume to enter ; or, without it, explain the intricate
intelligence of those mirific wards which were con-
structed by it, and for it to pass through, and for it
alone? They, we repeat, who can understand the
language of the philosophers, will understand their
Conclusion. 531
Art ; for this we have opened the way only, which if
any one will consent to travel in, we assure him of
success, but not otherwise ; for neither was this re-
search undertaken indiscriminately, nor can it be pro- • y,
secuted without a congenial 4^^i4. But he who ^<L^/(yC.
desires to enter, let him search for the Root of Reason ^
rationally, and hold by It, and conspire with It, if he
would have Truth at last. He who knows the first
entrance, and how to render the fixed tincture of life
volatile, and to return it, being free, is already admitted
to the temple of Divine Science, and joins in with the
whole conclave ; because, through all the interior re-
cesses, the method is allied. Let him search into the
enigmas, peruse the fables, and consider the parables
and maxims of the wise Adepts. They all tend to one
discovery, and declare the same, and even in their
inconsistencies will be instructive to him who has the
Key. And he who sets himself in this wise to the
comprehension of the whole philosophy, will be a
competent judge of our labours, how much assistance
we have added towards the recovery of lost Wisdom,
and with what sincerity we have opened the way
permeating into those antiquated abodes of Light.
THE END.
Stevens and Co., Printers, Bell Yard, Temple Bar.
Will he published shortly y
THE ENIGMA OE ALCHEMY AND
(EDIPUS RESOLVED.
A POEM IN FIVE PAETS.
DESIGNED TO EHICinATE THE
FABLES, SYMBOLS, AND OTHER MYTHOLOGICAL DISGUISES,
IN WHICH THK
HERMETIC ART
HAS BEEN ENVELOPED AND SIGNALIZED IN VARIOUS AGES;
ECCLESIASTICAL CEEEMONIES, MASONIC FORMUL.^,
ASTUOiS'OMICAL SIGNS AND CONSTELLATIONS,
EVEN THE EMBLAZONMENTS OF CHI-
VALEY, HERALDIC BADGES, AND
OTHER EMBLEMS,
Which without explanation have been handeil down, and which are shown to
have originated in the same mystic school ; through each particular tracing
their allusion to the
MEANS AND MECHANISM
UNIVERSAL SCIENCE.
Hereby it is hoped not only to draw the attention of the curious, but to offer
a new incentive to inquiry, a prospect real, beautiful, and more fruitful than
heretofore to the
^tlmuing ClaiSSic antJ ^tutJjnt of Snncnt Itfarmng.
13
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